Differentiation of taste papilla epithelium during development

描述(申请人提供)：味蕾，将味觉刺激转化为神经信号的感官末端器官，驻留在哺乳动物舌头的味觉乳头中。因此，味觉乳头含有分化的上皮细胞，包括味蕾细胞。然而，味觉生物学领域缺乏对乳头发育过程中可能的味觉细胞前体组成的清楚了解。事实上，在乳头分化过程中，没有关于早期舌上皮细胞规格的详细信息，它可以交叉信号传递到下面的间充质细胞。本研究的目的是描述：(1)神经细胞、神经胶质细胞和味觉细胞在胚胎和出生后早期舌上皮中的定位和时序；(2)神经峰源性细胞(NCDCs)在舌上皮、间充质和味觉乳头发育中的阶段和位置特异性分布及其表型特征。全舌和切片的免疫组织化学将用于鉴定和定位胚胎和出生后舌上皮和间充质中的神经细胞、神经胶质细胞和味觉细胞的表型。此外，还将使用选定胚胎阶段的体外舌器官培养系统来研究在没有完整的感官贡献的情况下，细胞类型是否能够发育和维持。我们将用Wnt1-Cre或P0-Cre调控的带有LacZ(R26R)报告基因或ZEG(LacZ/EGFP)双报告基因的转基因小鼠来标记WNT1和P0表达的NCDCs。将描述NCDCs在发育中的舌和味觉乳头中的分布和细胞表型。这一结果将为该领域带来新的信息，并为理解味觉乳头上皮发育的起源和进行性分化提供重要的基础。味觉是由味觉乳头中的味蕾传递的，指导着所有脊椎动物的营养选择和摄食行为。因此，彻底了解味觉乳头如何发育和分化，最终包括味蕾细胞，将有助于更好地理解味觉是如何发展的。 公共卫生相关性：味觉决定我们的营养选择，这对生活和生活质量至关重要。对味觉乳头发育的了解将有助于理解舌味器官的分布和密度是如何决定的，从而有助于理解味觉敏感性是如何产生的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Taste buds, the sensory end organs that transduce gustatory stimuli into neural signals, reside in taste papillae in the mammalian tongue. Therefore, taste papillae incorporate the epithelium that will differentiate to include cells of taste bud. However, the field of taste biology lacks a clear understanding of what constitutes possible taste cell precursors in developing papillae. In fact, there is no detailed information about cell specification of the early lingual epithelium that can cross-signal to underlying mesenchyme in papilla differentiation. The goals of this proposal are to characterize: (1) the localization and timing for neuronal, glial and taste cell phenotypes in embryonic and early postnatal tongue epithelium; (2) stage and location-specific distribution and phenotypic specification of neural crest derived cells (NCDCs) in developing lingual epithelium, mesenchyme and taste papillae. Immunohistochemistry on whole tongue and sections will be used to characterize and localize neuronal, glial and taste cell phenotypes, in embryonic and postnatal tongue epithelium and mesenchyme. Also, an in vitro, tongue organ culture system at select embryonic stages will be used to study whether cell types can develop and be sustained in the absence of an intact sensory contribution. We will use transgenic mouse lines with a lacZ (R26R) reporter or ZEG (lacZ/EGFP) double reporter transgene modulated by Wnt1- Cre or P0-Cre to label Wnt1- and P0-expressing NCDCs. The distribution and cell phenotypes of NCDCs in the developing tongue and taste papillae will be characterized. The results will bring new information to the field and provide an important foundation for understanding the derivation and progressive differentiation of developing taste papilla epithelium. Taste sensation, which is tranduced by taste buds in the gustatory papillae, guides nutritive choices and ingestive behaviors of all vertebrates. Thus a thorough knowledge of how taste papillae develop and differentiate to eventually include taste bud cells will contribute to better understanding how taste sensation develops. Public Health Relevance: The sense of taste informs our nutritive choices, which are essential for life and quality of life. Knowledge of taste papilla development will contribute to understanding how the distribution and density of tongue taste organs are determined, and therefore, to understanding how taste sensitivity emerges.