Retinoic acid in motor neuron specification

博士提出的项目。Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras大学（UPR-RP）的Eduardo Rosa-Molinar和加州理工学院（CalTech）的Scott E. Fraser将对指导脊髓发育的细胞相互作用有更深入的了解。特别是，该实验将建立含有合成和降解维甲酸（RA）酶的细胞的表型，并阐明它们在指导胚胎脊髓室管膜中，特别是次级运动神经元的生发细胞的发生，迁移和命运中的作用。这项实验计划建立在先前由国家科学基金会资助的罗莎-莫里纳实验室开展的工作的基础上。这项工作在发育和成熟的西蚊鱼Gambusia affinis affinis（以下简称“蚊鱼”）中建立了类风湿关节炎的代谢和脊髓的功能神经解剖学。拟议项目的测试实验是关于指导脊髓发育和分化的相互作用，将利用食蚊鱼的一些独特属性。正如本拨款申请的其他地方所详细描述的那样，两个实验室将进行互补的工作。

The proposed project of Drs. Eduardo Rosa-Molinar, the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP), and Scott E. Fraser of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) will result in a greater understanding of the cellular interactions that guide the development of the spinal cord. In particular, the experiments will establish the phenotypes of the cells that contain the enzymes synthesizing and degrading retinoic acid (RA) and elucidate their role in guiding the genesis, migration, and fate of germinal cells in the ependyma of the embryonic spinal cord, specifically, secondary motor neurons. The experimental plan builds upon previous National Science Foundation funded work performed in the Rosa-Molinar laboratory. That work established both the RA metabolism and the functional neuroanatomy of the spinal cord in the developing and mature Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis affinis (hereafter "mosquitofish"). The proposed project's test experiments on the interactions that guide the development and differentiation of the spinal cord will take advantage of some of the unique attributes of the mosquitofish. As described in detail elsewhere in this grant application, complementary work will be performed in the two laboratories.