TY - JOUR
T1 - Melanocytes contribute to the vasculature of the choroid
AU - Shibuya, Hirotoshi
AU - Watanabe, Ryutaro
AU - Maeno, Akiteru
AU - Ichimura, Kaoru
AU - Tamura, Masaru
AU - Wakana, Shigeharu
AU - Shiroishi, Toshihiko
AU - Ohba, Koji
AU - Takeda, Kazuhisa
AU - Tomita, Hiroshi
AU - Shibahara, Shigeki
AU - Yamamoto, Hiroaki
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Drs. Sei-ichi Ishiguro, Makoto Tamai, Hiroyuki Ide and Koji Tamura for helpful discussions and for allowing us to use their facilities at Tohoku University in the early stages of this study when H. Y. belonged to that university. We also thank Drs. Takahiro Kunisada and Hitomi Aoki at the Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine for supplying us with specimens prepared from their own unique transgenic mice at very early stages of this study. We are also grateful to Ms. Yukiko Yano and Ms. Yuki Iwabuchi for their preliminary research. Our study is indebted to Drs. Shintaro Nomura, Nobuo Nagai and the late Akitsugu Yamamoto at the Nagahama Institute of BioScience and Technology for their technical advice. This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, to H. Y. (24650239), and by the NIG Collaborative Research Program (2010-B6, 2011-B6 and 2012-B5) to H. Y.
Funding Information:
We thank Drs. Sei-ichi Ishiguro, Makoto Tamai, Hiroyuki Ide and Koji Tamura for helpful discussions and for allowing us to use their facilities at Tohoku University in the early stages of this study when H. Y. belonged to that university. We also thank Drs. Takahiro Kunisada and Hitomi Aoki at the Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine for supplying us with specimens prepared from their own unique transgenic mice at very early stages of this study. We are also grateful to Ms. Yukiko Yano and Ms. Yuki Iwabuchi for their preliminary research. Our study is indebted to Drs. Shintaro Nomura, Nobuo Nagai and the late Akitsugu Yamamoto at the Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology for their technical advice. This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, to H. Y. (24650239), and by the NIG Collaborative Research Program (2010-B6, 2011-B6 and 2012-B5) to H. Y.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Genetics Society of Japan. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Melanocytes develop from the vertebrate embryo-specific neural crest, migrate, and localize in various organs, including not only the skin but also several extracutaneous locations such as the heart, inner ear and choroid. Little is known about the functions of extracutaneous melanocytes except for cochlear melanocytes, which are essential for hearing ability. In this study, we focused on the structure of the choroid, in which melanocytes are abundant around the well-developed blood vascular system. By comparing structural differences in the choroid of wild-type and melanocyte-deficient Mitfmi-bw/Mitfmi-bw mutant mice, our observations suggest that choroidal melanocytes contribute to the morphogenesis and/or maintenance of the normal vasculature structure of that tissue.
AB - Melanocytes develop from the vertebrate embryo-specific neural crest, migrate, and localize in various organs, including not only the skin but also several extracutaneous locations such as the heart, inner ear and choroid. Little is known about the functions of extracutaneous melanocytes except for cochlear melanocytes, which are essential for hearing ability. In this study, we focused on the structure of the choroid, in which melanocytes are abundant around the well-developed blood vascular system. By comparing structural differences in the choroid of wild-type and melanocyte-deficient Mitfmi-bw/Mitfmi-bw mutant mice, our observations suggest that choroidal melanocytes contribute to the morphogenesis and/or maintenance of the normal vasculature structure of that tissue.
KW - Choroid
KW - Melanocyte
KW - Mi-bw
KW - Microenvironment
KW - Vasculature
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U2 - 10.1266/ggs.17-00058
DO - 10.1266/ggs.17-00058
M3 - Article
C2 - 29607881
AN - SCOPUS:85056383223
VL - 93
SP - 51
EP - 58
JO - Genes and Genetic Systems
JF - Genes and Genetic Systems
SN - 1341-7568
IS - 2
ER -