Celulas progenitoras (ingles)

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Ann N Y Acad Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 September 8.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 July ; 1170: 34–38. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04371.x.

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IN VIVO FATE TRACING STUDIES OF MAMMALIAN TASTE CELL PROGENITORS
Shoba Thirumangalathu* and Linda. A. Barlow Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the Rocky Mountain Taste & Smell Center, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora CO 80045, USA

Abstract
In mammals, the homogeneous lingual epithelium in the process of development, forms specialized placodal cells that undergo a series of morphogenetic changes to form a papilla. Taste buds appear in the papillary epithelium around birth and thus papillae serve to house the taste buds in the adult. However, evidence for a precise lineage relationship between a putative embryonic taste progenitor population and functional adult taste buds has so far been elusive and is primarily indirect. Also, mammalian taste papillae are reminiscent of epithelial appendages suggesting that the mesenchymal tissue of the papillae could be involved in the formation of these lingual structures. These major questions in the field of mammalian taste development have remained unanswered due to lack of fate mapping studies that would label embryonic cell populations and remain indelibly marked in the adult. Taking advantage of a genetic fate mapping approach to label cell populations both in the lingual epithelium and mesenchyme and following their fate during development would be an ideal way to assess each of these tissues contribution in taste bud formation. Fate-mapping studies using tissue specific cre strains crossed with reporter alleles would uncover unique features in the formation of these specialized sensory cells and also provide us with an in vivo model system for taste organ specific experimental