Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 260, Issue 1, 1 August 2003, Pages 46-57
Developmental Biology

Regular article
Role of Phox2b and Mash1 in the generation of the vestibular efferent nucleus

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-1606(03)00213-6Get rights and content
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Abstract

The inner ear (vestibular and cochlear) efferent neurons are a group of atypical motor-like hindbrain neurons which innervate inner ear hair cells and their sensory afferents. They are born in the fourth rhombomere, in close association with facial branchial motor neurons, from which they subsequently part through a specific migration route. Here, we demonstrate that the inner ear efferents depend on Phox2b for their differentiation, behaving in that respect like hindbrain visceral and branchial motor neurons. We also show that the vestibular efferent nucleus is no longer present at its usual site in mice inactivated for the bHLH transcription factor Mash 1. The concomitant appearance of an ectopic branchial-like nucleus at the location where both inner ear efferents and facial branchial motor neurons are born suggests that Mash1 is required for the migration of a subpopulation of rhombomere 4-derived efferents.

Keywords

Mash 1
Phox2
Vestibular efferent nucleus
Hindbrain
Motor neuron
Cell migration
Transcription factor

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