PTHRP/Adenylate cyclase promotes parietal whereas Wnt/-catenin signaling promotes visceral endoderm differentiation of rat XEN cells.

In this study we showed that rat XEN cells grown in the presence of a GSK3 inhibitor exhibited enhanced formation of cell contacts and decreased motility. In contrast, treatment with forskolin induced the PE formation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in rat XEN cells. Using microarray and real-time PCR assays, we found that VE versus PE formation of rat XEN cells was correlated with change in expression levels of VE or PE marker genes. Similar to forskolin, EMT was prompted upon treatment of rat XEN cells with recombinant parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHRP), an activator of the cAMP pathway in vivo. Taken together, our data suggest that rat XEN cells are PrE-like cells. The activation of Wnt pathway in rat XEN cells leads to the acquisition of VE characteristics, whereas the activation of the PTHRP/cAMP pathway leads to EMT and the formation of PE.

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Chuykin I, Schulz H, Guan K, Bader M