NOGO-A induction and localization during chick brain development indicate a role disparate from neurite outgrowth inhibition.

Background: Nogo-A, a myelin-associated protein, inhibits neurite outgrowth and abates regeneration in the adult vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) and may play a role in maintaining neural pathways once established. However, the presence of Nogo-A during early CNS development is counterintuitive and hints at an additional role for Nogo-A beyond neurite inhibition.

Results: We isolated chicken NOGO-A and determined its sequence.

Chick embryos exposed to trichloroethylene in an ex ovo culture model show selective defects in early endocardial cushion tissue formation.

Background: Formation of the primitive heart is a critical step for establishing a competent circulatory system necessary for continued morphogenesis, and as such has significant potential as a target for environmental insult. The goal of this study was to identify the initial cellular events that precede more superficially observable abnormalities resulting from exposing early chick embryos to trichloroethylene (TCE).

Methods: A whole embryo culture method was used to assess the susceptibility of endocardial epithelial-mesenchymal transformation in the early chick heart to TCE.

Neurocan in the embryonic avian heart and vasculature.

The chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG) neurocan was previously considered to be nervous-system specific. However, we have found neurocan in the embryonic heart and vasculature. In stage 11 quail embryos, neurocan was prominently expressed in the myocardium, dorsal mesocardium, heart-forming fields, splanchnic mesoderm, and vicinity of the extraembryonic vaculature, and at lower levels in the endocardium.