The expression pattern of endothelin 3 in the avian embryo

Abstract

We investigated the expression pattern of the endothelin 3 gene, of which the mutation, as well as mutation of its receptor (endothelin-B receptor), affects the development of two neural crest derivatives: enteric nervous system and melanocytes. After previous work showing that these neural crest derived cells express endothelin-B receptor or its subtype endothelin-B2 receptor in the avian embryo, we have demonstrated that endothelin 3 is expressed by the environment of enteric nervous system and melanocyte precursors.