Retinoic acid in motor neuron specification

Eduardo Rosa-Molina博士、波多黎各-里约热内卢大学(UPR-RP)和加州理工学院(Caltech)的Scott E.Fraser博士提出的项目将使人们更好地理解引导脊髓发育的细胞相互作用。特别是，这些实验将建立含有合成和降解维甲酸(RA)的酶的细胞的表型，并阐明它们在指导胚胎脊髓室管膜中生发细胞的发生、迁移和命运中的作用，特别是次级运动神经元。该实验计划建立在之前国家科学基金会资助的在罗莎-莫利纳实验室进行的工作的基础上。这项工作建立了发育和成熟的西方亲缘蚊虫(Gambusia Affinis Affinis)脊髓的RA代谢和功能神经解剖学。拟议中的项目关于指导脊髓发育和分化的相互作用的测试实验将利用蚊子的一些独特属性。正如在这份赠款申请中其他地方详细描述的那样，将在两个实验室开展互补工作。

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.