Neural crest stem cells which are derived from ectoderm are transient, multipotent cells. Neural crest stem cells migrate from the roof plate of the neural tube where they originate, to generate a prodigious number of differentiated cell types including melanocytes, craniofacial cartilage and bone, smooth muscle, peripheral and enteric neurons and glia.. After gastrulation, neural crest cells are specified at the border of the neural plate and the non-neural ectoderm. During neurulation, the borders of the neural plate, also known as the neural folds, converge at the dorsal midline to form the neural tube. Subsequently, neural crest cells from the roof plate of the neural tube undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition, delaminating from the neuroepithelium and migrating through the periphery where they differentiate into varied cell types.The emergence of neural crest was important in vertebrate evolution because many of its structural derivatives are defining features of the vertebrate clade. Neural crest cells break away from the neural plate or neural tube by changing their shape and properties from those of typical neuroepithelial cells to those of mesenchymal cells. The fate of the neural crest cells depends, to a large degree, on where they migrate to and settle. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of neural crest formation is important for our knowledge of human disease because of its contributions to multiple cell lineages.
