RT Journal Article
T1 The proepicardium keeps a potential for glomerular marker expression which supports its evolutionary origin from the pronephros
A1 Cano, Elena
A1 Carmona-Mejías, Rita María
A1 Velecela, Víctor
A1 Martínez-Estrada, Ofelia
A1 Muñoz-Chápuli-Oriol, Ramón
K1 Cardiología
AB The proepicardium is the embryonic primordium of the epicardium. This transient structure is essential for cardiac development giving rise to the epicardium and supplying the heart with vascular and cardiac connective tissue progenitors. However, their nature and evolutionary origin are poorly-known. We have suggested elsewhere (Pombal et al. Evol. Dev. 10: 210–216, 2008; Cano et al., J. Dev. Biol. 1: 3–19, 2013) that the proepicardium is an evolutionary derivative of the primordium of an ancient external pronephric glomerulus, devoid of its original excretory function. In this study, we describe for the first time expression of two podocyte markers in the chick proepicardium (glepp1 and synaptopodin) and we have shown how these podocyte markers as well as the intermediate mesoderm marker Pax2 are strongly upregulated when the proepicardium is cultured with nephrogenic inducers. Retinoic acid treatment also induced in the proepicardium expression of Hoxb4, a gene which confers to intermediate mesoderm competence to respond to nephrogenic signals. Thus, a latent nephrogenic potential persists in the proepicardium and also that its original glomerular fate can be partially rescued. The transcription factor Wt1, essential for kidney and epicardial development, plays opposite roles in both tissues, inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the proepicardium and promoting epithelialization in the kidneys (Essafi et al., Dev. Cell 21: 559–574, 2011). Consistently with this antithetical function of Wt1, we have observed an upregulation of podocalyxin in the epicardium of mouse embryos with conditional deletion of the Wt1 gene, while this protein is transcriptionally activated by Wt1 in podocytes.
PB Wiley Online Library
YR 2015
FD 2015-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/36273
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/36273
LA eng
NO Cano, E., Carmona, R., Velecela, V., Martínez-Estrada, O. and Muñoz-Chápuli, R. (2015), The proepicardium keeps a potential for glomerular marker expression which supports its evolutionary origin from the pronephros. Evolution & Development, 17: 224-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/ede.12130
NO his study was funded by grants BFU2011-025304, BFU2011-26972, and BFU2014-52299 (Spanish Ministry of Economy), EU Marie Curie CIG (FP7) 303926 to O.M.M.E., RD06/0019/0022 (ISCIII-TERCEL), and P11-CTS-07564 (Junta de Andalucía). O.M.M.E. is a Ramón y Cajal Research Program fellow.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026