PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jennifer C. Kasemeier-Kulesa
AU  - Rebecca McLennan
AU  - Morgan H. Romine
AU  - Paul M. Kulesa
AU  - Frances Lefcort
TI  - CXCR4 Controls Ventral Migration of Sympathetic Precursor Cells
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0892-10.2010
DP  - 2010 Sep 29
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 13078--13088
VI  - 30
IP  - 39
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/39/13078.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/39/13078.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2010 Sep 29; 30
AB  - The molecular mechanisms that sort migrating neural crest cells (NCCs) along a shared pathway into two functionally discrete structures, the dorsal root ganglia and sympathetic ganglia (SGs), are unknown. We report here that this patterning is attributable in part to differential expression of the chemokine receptor, CXCR4. We show that (1) a distinct subset of ventrally migrating NCCs express CXCR4 and this subset is destined to form the neural core of the sympathetic ganglia, and (2) the CXCR4 ligand, SDF-1, is a chemoattractant for NCCs in vivo and is expressed adjacent to the future SGs. Reduction of CXCR4 expression in NCCs disrupts their migration toward the future SGs, whereas overexpression of CXCR4 in non-SG-destined NCCs induces them to migrate aberrantly toward the SGs. These data are the first to demonstrate a major role for chemotaxis in the patterning of NCC migration and demonstrate the neural crest is composed of molecularly heterogeneous cell populations.