The Role of BDNF in Gustatory Neuron Development

描述(申请人提供)：这项申请调查了早期胚胎事件，这些事件是支配味觉系统的感觉神经元发育的基础。具体地说，它询问神经元如何分离为味觉或非味觉(体感)形式。携带味觉信息的脑神经节是从鳃上的胎盘和神经脊发育而来的。细胞标记和组织移植技术将用于定位胎盘和CREST，以确定味觉神经元的胚胎起源。味觉神经元的生存依赖于脑源性神经营养因子(BDNF)。在发育过程中，味觉神经元何时需要脑源性神经营养因子？嗅觉神经元所需的脑源性神经营养因子的来源是什么？这些问题将用分子遗传学的方法来解决，在这种方法中，BDNF被选择性地从转基因小鼠的脑神经节神经元亚群中删除。脑神经发育的机制很可能广泛地涉及到早期感觉系统发育的许多方面。我的结果将有助于对正常脊椎动物胚胎发生事件的基本洞察，并为神经缺陷的研究提供基本数据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application investigates the early embryonic events that underlie the development of sensory neurons that innervate the taste system. Specifically, it asks how neurons segregate to gustatory or non-gustatory (somatosensory) modalities. Cranial nerve ganglia that carry taste information arise embryonically from epibranchial placodes and the neural crest. Cell labeling and tissue transplantation techniques will be used to fate map placodes and crest to determine the embryonic origin of gustatory neurons. Gustatory neurons are dependent on brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) for survival. When during development do gustatory neurons require BDNF and what is the source of BDNF required by gustatory neurons? These questions will be addressed using a molecular genetic approach, in which BDNF is selectively deleted from subsets of cranial ganglionic neurons in transgenic mice. The mechanisms involved in cranial nerve development are likely to be broadly involved in many aspects of early sensory system development. My results will lend basic insight into events of normal vertebrate embryogenesis and provide elementary data for the study of neurological defects.