The Ribes Lab published a new article in Emerging topics in life sciences:
Stem cell-derived models of spinal neurulation
Abstract:
This review is the fruit of an enriching collaboration with my thesis supervisors Vanessa Ribes and Stéphane Nedelec (Institut du Fer à Moulin), along with Martin Catala (Institut de Biologie Paris Seine) and Mikaëlle Bocel (Institut Jacques Monod) and delves into the intricate world of neurulation—a crucial stage in early embryonic development. Neurulation gives rise to the neural tube, the precursor of the central nervous system in amniotes. Understanding this complex, multi-scale, multi-tissue morphogenetic process is essential to provide insights into normal development and the etiology of neural tube defects. Innovations in tissue engineering have fostered the generation of pluripotent stem cell-based in vitro models, including organoids, that are emerging as unique tools for delving into neurulation mechanisms, especially in the context of human development. Each model captures specific aspects of neural tube morphogenesis, from epithelialization to neural tissue elongation, folding and cavitation. In particular, the recent models of human and mouse trunk morphogenesis, such as gastruloids, that form a spinal neural plate-like or neural tube-like structure are opening new avenues to study normal and pathological neurulation. In this text, we review the morphogenetic events generating the neural tube in the mammalian embryo and questions that remain unanswered. We discuss the advantages and limitations of existing in vitro models of neurulation and possible future technical developments.
