Fig. 6. Developmental potential of individual vagal neural crest stem cells and bidirectional cardiac neural crest migration driven by molecular cues.

a Early cardiac neural crest cells (red) from the mid-otic to somite 3 exhibit stochastic migration. A subset of randomly selected progeny migrates into the pharyngeal junction in an FGF-dependent manner, and subsequently in the direction of the heart or the gut in response to CXCR4 or RET, according to distribution of environmental signals (FGF8 expressed in pharyngeal arches, SDF1 expressed by ectoderm in coordination with migrating neural crest, and GDNF expressed in gut mesenchyme). In contrast, posterior vagal neural crest cells emigrating from somite 4–7 (blue) are less sensitive to RET signaling. b As a result, individual premigratory and migratory cardiac neural crest cells are multipotent, capable of giving rise to all cardiac crest-derivatives. c Individual premigratory and migratory posterior vagal neural crest cells are multipotent, contributing to diverse components of the sympathetic nervous system. The ENS is composed of neural crest cells of both cardiac and posterior vagal clonal origins.