Regulation of the Early Development of the Nervous System by Growth Factors

Abstract

The nervous system of vertebrates begins as a thickening of the dorsal ectoderm early in embryogenesis which subsequently involutes to form the neural tube consisting of a single layer of epithelium (neuroepithelium); from this develops the entire central nervous sytem (CNS). Another population of cells bud off from the dorsal portion of the tube just prior to closure, the neural crest; these cells give rise to all the cells of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), and to many structures in the facial and branchial regions of the developing embryo.