Authors: Katrin Huber
Publish Date: 2014/07/20
Volume: 359, Issue: 1, Pages: 333-341
Abstract
Neuronal and neuroendocrine cells possess the capacity for Ca2+regulated discharge of messenger molecules which they release into synapses or the blood stream respectively The neuralcrestderived sympathoadrenal lineage gives rise to the sympathetic neurons of the autonomic nervous system and the neuroendocrine chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla These cells provide an excellent model system for studying common and distinct developmental mechanisms underlying the acquisition of neuroendocrine and neuronal properties As catecholaminergic cells they possess common markers related to noradrenaline synthesis storage and release but they also display diverging gene expression patterns and are morphologically and functionally different The precise mechanisms that underlie the diversification of sympathoadrenal cells into neurons and neuroendocrine cells are not fully understood However in the past we could show that the establishment of a chromaffin phenotype does not depend on signals from the adrenal cortex and that chromaffin cells and sympathetic neurons apparently differ from the onset of their catecholaminergic differentiation Nevertheless the cues that specifically induce neuroendocrine features remain elusive The early development of the progenitors of chromaffin cells and sympathetic neurons depends on a common set of transcription factors with overlapping but distinct influences on their development In addition to the welldefined role of transcription factors as developmental regulators our understanding of posttranscriptional gene regulation by microRNAs has substantially increased within the last few decades This review highlights the major similarities and differences between chromaffin cells and sympathetic neurons summarizes our current knowledge of the roles of selected transcription factors microRNAs and environmental signals for the neuroendocrine differentiation of sympathoadrenal cells and draws comparisons with the development of other endocrine and neuronal cells
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