Physiological Signatures of Dual Embryonic Origins in Mouse Skull Vault

Background/aims: The mammalian skull vault is a highly regulated structure and consists of several membrane bones of different tissue origins (e.g. neural crest derived frontal bone and mesoderm derived parietal bone). Although membrane bones form through intramembranous ossification, neural crest derived frontal bone has superior osteoblast activity and bone regeneration ability, triggering a novel conception for craniofacial reconstruction and bone regeneration called endogenous calvarial regeneration. However, a comprehensive landscape of the genes and signaling pathways involved in this process is not clear.

Methods: Transcriptome analysis within the two bone elements is firstly performed to determine the physiological signatures of differential gene expressions in mouse skull vault.

Results: Frontal bone tissues and parietal bone tissues maintain tissue origin through special gene expression similar to neural crest vs mesoderm tissue, and physiological functions between these two tissues are also found in differences related to proliferation, differentiation and extracellular matrix production and clustered signaling pathways.

Conclusion: Our data provide novel insights into the potential gene regulatory network in regulating the development of neural crest-derived frontal bone and mesoderm-derived parietal bone.