The pancreas, a gland that secretes digestive juices into the stomach and insulin into the blood, develops from two endodermal buds. In mice embryos,fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) secreted by the pancreatic mesenchyme control the development of these buds, but how does the pancreatic mesenchyme form?Manfroid and colleagues now show that, in zebrafish embryos, reciprocal endoderm-mesoderm interactions mediated by FGFs control pancreas development(see p. 4011). The researchers identify an area next to the ventral pancreatic bud - the pancreatic lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) - that corresponds to the pancreatic mesenchyme in mice and that is essential for ventral bud development. They show for the first time that transient expression of fgf24 in the endodermal precursor of the ventral bud patterns the pancreatic LPM and report that subsequent expression of fgf10 and fgf24 by the pancreatic LPM controls the specification and growth of the ventral pancreas. Thus, they conclude, sequential signalling between the endoderm and mesoderm drives pancreas development in zebrafish.
Two-way signals for pancreatic development
Two-way signals for pancreatic development. Development 15 November 2007; 134 (22): e2202. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Development presents... live stream of our Journal Meeting

Watch a session from Development’s Journal Meeting, Unconventional and Emerging Experimental Organisms in Cell and Developmental Biology which was live on the Node Monday 18 September.
Navigating a research career with a disability

Our two recent Perspectives articles explore the lived experiences of disabled scientists in our community. Kelsey L. Anbuhl and colleagues describe the lived experiences of five biologists who share the challenges and successes of undertaking a scientific career with a disability. Whereas Jack Darius Morgan reviews the literature exploring disabled scientists’ experiences in academia.
Focus on regeneration

Tissue regeneration is a fascinating phenomenon, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying regeneration remain incompletely understood. Here, Development has collated a series of articles showcasing some of the most recent advances in regenerative biology.
Keeping up with the Node: Lab meetings

Keep up with the Node 'Lab meeting' posts as the platform regularly highlights development and stem cell biology labs from across the globe and showcases research and researchers from the community. August featured the Nichols lab at the University of Edinburgh, read their 'Lab meeting' article here.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say

We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.