Evidence that bone morphogenetic protein 4 has multiple biological functions during kidney and urinary tract development

Abstract

Depending on local context, BMP4 has several biological actions on the morphogenesis of different portions of the excretory system, namely, the development of the ureterovesical junction, the ureter, and the kidney.

Linking pathways in colorectal cancer

“…1c,d), as BMPs have previously been shown to stimulate proliferation of hematopoietic cells 14 and stromal cell types in the kidney 15 .…”

Bmp in Podocytes Is Essential for Normal Glomerular Capillary Formation

“…2,3 Bmp4 heterozygous (Bmp4 ϩ/Ϫ) mice display various kidney and urinary tract anomalies, including hypo/dysplastic kidneys, ectopic ureterovesical junction and double collecting system. 4,5 These phenotypes in Bmp4 ϩ/Ϫ mice, together with findings in studies using metanephric organ culture system, indicate that BMP4 has multiple biologic functions in the early stages of kidney and urinary tract development that include inhibition of ectopic budding of the ureter, 5,6 stimulation of elongation of the branching ureter, and promotion of the growth of metanephric mesenchyme. Because of the multiple abnor-malities developing during the early kidney formation in BMP knockouts, little is known about the function of BMP at its late stages.…”

Transcriptional profiling of the megabladder mouse: A unique model of bladder dysmorphogenesis

“…The differentiation program responsible for the development of smooth muscle involves the complex interaction of epigenetic and genetic events including chromatin remodeling and acetylation, the SRF-myocar-din pathway, basic helix-loop-helix factors, AP-1 complex genes, and the ternary complex factors of the ETS domain family (Manabe and Owens, 2001;Chen et al, 2002;Du et al, 2003;Kumar and Owens, 2003;Miano, 2003;Wang et al, 2003Wang et al, , 2004Yoshida et al, 2003;Buchwalter et al, 2004;Spin et al, 2004;McDonald et al, 2006;Pipes et al, 2006). In addition, a variety of growth factors and hormones have been implicated in modulating the cell-to-cell interactions important for normal bladder morphogenesis (Cunha et al, 1980;Cerro et al, 1993;Finch et al, 1995;Krongrad et al, 1995;Mizuno et al, 1996;Haughney et al, 1998;Warner et al, 1999;Ince et al, 2002;Miyazaki et al, 2003;Villalpando and LopezOlmos, 2003). The interplay between all of these factors is critical to the differential regulation of a variety of cell-specific genes that have been shown to be important for normal bladder development.…”