STONE, Jon R; HALL, Brian K; Dalhousie University; Dalhousie University: Software Development: Computer Simulated Neural Crest Cell Migration

Neural crest is a germ layer that emerges at the boundary between prospective neural and epidermal ectoderms in craniates during development. Neural crest disassociates via an epithelial-mesenchymal transition to migrate as individual cells or cellular populations and contributes to an astonishing variety of cell types (e.g., cholinergic and adrenergic neurons, odontoblasts, chondrocytes and osteoblasts, myoblasts, and melanocytes) and tissues (e.g., parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, teeth, craniofacial skeleton, heart, and dermis). Neural crest studies have been conducted intensively but independently at genetic, cellular, and tissue levels and in a variety of taxa; thus, although researchers have acquired substantial information concerning neural crest cell migration, no synthetic framework is available for directly testing evolutionary developmental hypotheses. We have developed a computer simulation program that incorporates information that has been obtained experimentally at cellular and tissue levels and from a variety of taxa. We describe this computer simulation program and how it is being used to conduct �virtual experiments� and, thereby, could provide evolutionary developmental information that complements information that is available empirically. For examples, attempts to distinguish whether neural crest cell migratory routes are effected by contact inhibition or contact guidance or determined by collagen fibril networks or differentiating cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion properties have been fraught with practical difficulties; how these hypotheses can be tested using computer simulation will be discussed.