Mechanisms of Migration

Abstract

Although other embryonic cells migrate—primordial germ cells from their site of origin to the embryonic gonadal ridges, sclerotomal cells from the somites to surround the notochord and spinal cord—the extraordinary migratory ability of neural crest cells sets them apart from all other embryonic cells. The loss of cell-to-cell attachments, basal translocation of cytoplasmic contents, movement of cells to a fenestrated basal lamina, penetration through the basal lamina, and subsequent migration along epithelial basal laminae or through extracellular matrices all play their roles in neural crest cell migration. In this chapter I address evidence of, and mechanisms that control this remarkable migratory behavior. I also ask how neural crest cells stop migrating when they reach their final site.¹