(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2006) Hurley, Shawn Patrick; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Frances Lefcort
During embryonic development, complex events such as cellular proliferation, differentiation, survival, and guidance of axons are orchestrated and regulated by a variety of extracellular signals. Receptor tyrosine kinases mediate many of these events with several playing critical roles in neuronal survival and axonal guidance. It is evident that not all the receptor tyrosine kinases that play key roles in regulating neuronal development have been identified. In these studies, we have characterized the spatial-temporal expression profile of a recently identified receptor tyrosine kinase, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), in embryonic chick by means of whole mount in situ hybridization in conjunction with immunohistochemistry. Our findings reveal that Alk is expressed in sympathetic and dorsal root ganglia as early as stage 19.
