Metamorphic remodeling of the nervous system .

Studying metamorphic programs has enabled us to identify molecular pathways that are general to vertebrate neural development by virtue of their regulation by thyroid hormone in frogs. We are studying a class of enzymes, deiodinase enzymes, which are critical for regulating post-embryonic neurogenesis. By studying genes controlled by thyroid hormone in neural progenitors, we study molecular pathways involved in the regulation of vertebrate post-embryonic neurogenesis. In one particular lineage, the generation of ipsilaterally projecting retinal ganglion cells, we are studying how these cells are generated from neural progenitor cells as well as the novel axon guidance mechanism that they use.

Brown, D.D., Cai, L., Das, B., Marsh-Armstrong, N., Schreiber, A.M.,, and Juste, R. (2005).  Thyroid hormoce controls multiple independent programs required for limb development in Xenopus laevis metamorphosis.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102. 12455-12458.

Marsh-Armstrong, N., Cai, L. and Brown, D.D. (2004) Thyroid hormone controls the development of connections between the spinal cord and limbs during Xenopus laevis metamorphosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 101, 165-170.

Marsh-Armstrong, N., Huang, H., Remo, B.F., Lui, T.T., and Brown, D.D. (1999) Asymmetric growth and development of the Xenopus laevis retina during metamorphosis is controlled by type-III deiodinase. Neuron 24, 871-878.