Apoptosis is known to be an essential mechanism for eliminating redundant cells during CNS development. The proliferation and differentiation of neuronal progenitor cells are accompanied by massive apoptotic cell death and the canonical wnt signaling pathway driven differentiation of neuronal progenitor cells is presumed to interfere with apoptosis pathways as well. However, the molecular interlock between the canonical wnt pathway and apoptotic pathways is still unknown.
The description of the expression pattern of apoptosis-related proteins over time after targeted manipulation of the canonical wnt pathway shall help to elucidate the molecular interference of the canonical wnt and apoptosis pathways in neuronal progenitor cells. Computer based modelling of the data will increase the understanding of the molecular bases of the cross-talk between wnt pathway, apoptosis and neuronal differentiation.