神经胚形成的生物力学研究进展

Progress in biomechanical mechanism of neurulation

神经胚形成即神经管形成过程,是脊索动物早期胚胎发育过程中最早、最重要的发育阶段。如果这一关键过程失败,将导致神经管缺陷(neural tube defect,NTD)的发生。这是一类严重的神经系统先天发育缺陷,主要包括先天性无脑畸形、脊髓脊膜膨出、颅脊柱裂等,平均发病率约为1/1000。其发病机制尚未明确。目前对于NTD的研究总是从诸如叶酸等营养角度,或者是某个与神经管闭合相关的分子角度来进行阐明,并且已经取得了一定程度进展。但是作为一种组织形态发生事件,神经胚形成是一系列涉及信号传导途径、细胞骨架成分以及细胞和组织水平力学相互作用事件的结果。只有当其中的各个方面机制被确定后,才能更好地被了解。这其中就包括神经胚形成过程中的生物力学机制。发育生物学家一直在讨论驱动神经胚形成过程中的生物力学机制,但目前仍然缺乏对其统一的理解和认识。该文就目前对神经胚形成过程中的生物力学研究进行综述。

Neurulation is a critical step in the early embryonic development of chordate and its failure causes the occurrence of neural tube defect (NTD). This is a type of serious birth defects of the nervous system, including anencephaly, spina bifida, meningeal or encephalocele and myelomeningocele.The average incidence of NTD is 1 per 1000 pregnancies worldwide.Its pathogenesis is not yet clear.Currently, research on neural tube defect has always been elucidated from the perspective of nutrition such as folic acid, or from a molecular potion related to neural tube closure.These efforts have been successful in identifying numerous cell biological processes essential to neurulation and genes associated with neural tube defect.However, as an event of tissue morphogenesis, neurulation is the result of a series of events involving the signaling pathway, cytoskeletal components, cellular, and tissue-level mechanical interactions.Only when the various aspects of neurulation are determined can it be better understood.Developmental biologists have been discussing biomechanical mechanisms that drive neurulation for many years, but there is still a lack of a unified understanding of them.The biomechanical mechanisms involved in neurulation are reviewed.