Effects of NRG1 and NGF on neural crest and Schwann cell migration

Schwann cells are vital to sustaining the neurons and making myelin in the Peripheral Nervous System, and play a key role in some neurodegenerative illnesses such as the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The Schwann cell is derived from a transient population of cells, the neural crest, in the early stages of embryogenesis of vertebrate organisms. Understanding the factors influencing NC and SC migration in reaching their final destinations during development would have fundamental applications to help neuropathies and degenerative diseases from the Peripheral Nervous System. Here we have investigated the effect on chemotaxis and chemokinesis that the protein ligands NRG1 and NGF have on chick Neural Crest cells and mouse Schwann cells. The findings from this research shows that NRG1 and NGF play a chemoattractant role in the migratory guidance for the NC and the SC.