Early regulative ability of the neuroepithelium to form cardiac neural crest

The cardiac neural crest (arising from the level of hindbrain rhombomeres 6–8) contributes to the septation of the cardiac outflow tract and the formation of aortic arches. Removal of this population after neural tube closure results in severe septation defects in the chick, reminiscent of human birth defects. Because neural crest cells from other axial levels have regenerative capacity, we asked whether the cardiac neural crest might also regenerate at early stages in a manner that declines with time. Accordingly, we find that ablation of presumptive cardiac crest at stage 7, as the neural folds elevate, results in reformation of migrating cardiac neural crest by stage 13. Fate mapping reveals that the new population derives largely from the neuroepithelium ventral and rostral to the ablation. The stage of ablation dictates the competence of residual tissue to regulate and regenerate, as this capacity is lost by stage 9, consistent with previous reports. These findings suggest that there is a temporal window during which the presumptive cardiac neural crest has the capacity to regulate and regenerate, but this regenerative ability is lost earlier than in other neural crest populations.