Short-term foetal immobility temporally and progressively affects chick spinal curvature and anatomy and rib development
Citation:
A. Levillain, R.A. Rolfe, Y. Huang, J.C. Iatridis and N.C. Nowlan, Short-term foetal immobility temporally and progressively affects chick spinal curvature and anatomy and rib development, eCELLS and MATERIALS, 2019 Jan 15;37:23-41Abstract:
Congenital spine deformities may be influenced by movements in utero, but the effects of foetal immobility
on spine and rib development remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to determine (1) critical
time-periods when rigid paralysis caused the most severe disruption in spine and rib development and (2)
how the effects of an early, short-term immobilisation were propagated to the different features of spine and
rib development. Chick embryos were immobilised once per single embryonic day (E) between E3 and E6
and harvested at E9. To assess the ontogenetic effects following single-day immobilisation, other embryos
were immobilised at E4 and harvested daily between E5 and E9. Spinal curvature, vertebral shape and
segmentation and rib development were analysed by optical projection tomography and histology. The results
demonstrated that periods critical for movement varied for different aspects of spine and rib development.
Single-day immobilisation at E3 or E4 resulted in the most pronounced spinal curvature abnormalities,
multiple wedged vertebrae and segmentation defects, while single-day immobilisation at E5 led to the
most severe rib abnormalities. Assessment of ontogenetic effects following single-day immobilisation at E4
revealed that vertebral segmentation defects were subsequent to earlier vertebral body shape and spinal
curvature abnormalities, while rib formation (although delayed) was independent from thoracic vertebral
shape or curvature changes.
A day-long immobilisation in chicks severely affected spine and rib development, highlighting the
importance of abnormal foetal movements at specific time-points and motivating targeted prenatal monitoring
for early diagnosis of congenital scoliosis.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/rolfereDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: Rolfe, Rebecca
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
eCELLS and MATERIALS;37;
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
Vertebrae, Biomechanics, Foetal movement, Congenital spine deformities, Embryo, Paralysis, Congenital scoliosisSubject (TCD):
Developmental BiologyDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.22203/eCM.v037a03ISSN:
1473-2262Metadata
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