Chapter category: Development
Branching Morphogenesis of the Prostate
Branching Morphogenesis
Edited by: Jamie A. DaviesISBN: 0-387-25615-6
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Chapter authors:
A.A. Thomson and P.C. Marker
The prostate is a male sex accessory organ whose development is regulated by androgens and mesenchymal/epithelial interactions. The organ comprises branched epithelial ducts within a stroma consisting of fibroblasts and smooth muscle as well as other components such as vasculature and nerves. The function of the prostate is to produce secretions that make up part of the seminal fluid, though it is not certain if these are essential for fertility or sperm function. There has been considerable interest in the identification of molecules and pathways that regulate prostatic growth, due to their relevance in prostatic disease. Few studies have focussed directly on prostatic branching though some have identified factors or pathways that play a role in prostatic growth and branching morphogenesis. Several pathways have been identified that appear to influence growth of the prostate and the process of branching morphogenesis simultaneously. However, genetic evidence suggests that prostatic growth and prostatic branching morphogenesis are processes that are independently regulated. The prostate is not one of the organs widely used for studies of branching morphogenesis, though this seems unfortunate as there are many factors which suggest that this organ would be an excellent model for the study of branching. These are: the ease with which these organs can be grown in vitro, the fact that the prostate is not required for viability, and the late genesis and growth of this organ relative to others during organogenesis.
Additional chapters from this book:
Branching Morphogenesis of the Prostate
A.A. Thomson and P.C. Marker
The prostate is a male sex accessory organ whose development is regulated by androgens and mesenchymal/epithelial interactions. The organ comprises branched epithelial ducts within a stroma consis...
Branching Morphogenesis in Vertebrate Neurons
Katherine M. Kollins and Roger W. Davenport
Within the developing vertebrate nervous system, strict control of branching morphogenesis is essential for establishing appropriate circuitry, since the geometry of neuronal arbors critically influ...
How Is the Branching of Animal Blood Vessels Implemented?
Sybill Patan
The Blood Circulatory System: Tree Analogy Versus Network: For centuries, the cardiovascular system of animals has been described as a branching tree with the heart in its very centre.1 Although thi...
Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in Breast Branching Morphogenesis and Breast Cancer: The Double-Edged Sword
Eva A Turley and Mina J Bissell
That differentiation and malignancy are different faces of the same coin is now almost a clich?.1-4 Although widely accepted as fact, exactly what are the points of similarity and differences that c...
Why a Book on Branching, and Why Now?
Jamie A. Davies
In a world overloaded with information, in which university library shelves bend under the weight of worthy tomes and the number of journals has been doubling every fifteen years,1,2 a prospective r...
Afterword
Jamie Davies
The subject of this book - branching morphogenesis - may seem to be very narrow, yet its chapters extend into a surprising number of aspects of modern biological science. The systems examined range ...
Uterine Glands
Thomas E. Spencer, Karen D. Carpenter, Kanako Hayashi and Jianbo Hu
This chapter focuses on the comparative development and mechanisms regulating branch ing morphogenesis of endometrial glands in the mammalian uterus. All uteri contain endometrial glands that secret...
Physical Mechanisms of Branching Morphogenesis in Animals: From Viscous Fingering to Cartilage Rings
Vincent Fleury, Tomoko Watanabe, Thi-Hahn Nguyen, Mathieu Unbekandt, David Warburton, Marcus Dejmek, Minh Binh, Nguyen, Anke Lindner and Laurent Schwartz
From a physicist’s point of view, and regardless of the genetic controls, the branching mechanisms of many organs and glands look similar. Most generally, an epithelium forms a pouch-like sheet whic...
Branching Morphogenesis in Mammalian Kidneys
Jamie A. Davies
Branching morphogenesis is an important mechanism for the development of the permanent kidneys of reptiles, mammals and birds. Branching of renal epithelia is similar to that seen in the other organ...
Branching in Colonial Hydroids
I.A. Kosevich
Cnidarians are primitive multi-cellular animals whose body is constructed of two epi thelial layers and whose gastric cavity has only one opening. Most cnidarians are colo nial. Colonial hydroids wi...
Branching in Fungal Hyphae and Fungal Tissues: Growing Mycelia in a Desktop Computer
David Moore, Liam J. McNulty and Audrius Meskauskas
In mycelial fungi the formation of hyphal branches is the only way in which the number of growing points can be increased. Cross walls always form at right angles to the long axis of a hypha, and nu...
Branching of Single Cells in Arabidopsis
Daniel Bouyer and Martin Huelskamp
Branching of single cells is controlled by intracellular or extracellular cues that lead to the establishment of a polarity axis and subsequently to the local activation of growth activ ity. Three m...
Embryonic Salivary Gland Branching Morphogenesis
Tina Jaskoll and Michael Melnick
Salivary submandibular gland (SMG) morphogenesis is regulated by the functional integration of stage-specific growth factor- , cytokine- and transcription factor-mediated signaling which mediates sp...
