Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 4 complete abstracts (643 words), 10 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
A tube of ectodermal tissue in an embryo that will give rise to the central nervous system, including the spinal cord and the brain. Lumen within the neural tube is called neural canal which gives rise to the central canal of the spinal cord and the ventricles of the brain. For malformation of the neural tube, see neural tube defects.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Neural Tubes; Tube, Neural; Tubes, Neural; Neural Canal; Canal, Neural; Canals, Neural; Neural Canals.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Embryonic Structures
Related concepts
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 1,146 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Neural Tube” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 300 of them (26.2%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 664 records.
Reviews account for 136 records (11.9%) and meta-analyses for 2. Randomized controlled trials number 0 (0.0%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 13 |
| 2000-2009 | 169 |
| 2010-2019 | 664 |
| 2020 onward | 300 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 136 | 11.9% |
| Meta-analyses | 2 | 0.2% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 0 | 0.0% |
Method: PubMed query "Neural Tube"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in anatomy and physiology
Anatomy describes how body structures are built and physiology describes how they normally work, so most findings here are descriptive or mechanistic rather than evidence about treatment. Much of what is known comes from dissection, imaging, tissue studies and experiments in animals, and measurements in healthy volunteers can differ from those in people with disease or at different ages. Normal ranges vary between individuals and populations. Check whether a result was measured in people or in another species, the age and health of the participants, and the method used.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gene regulatory logic for reading the Sonic Hedgehog signaling gradient in the vertebrate neural tube | 2012 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 397 | cc by PMID 22265416 · DOI · PMC3267043 |
| Dynamic assignment and maintenance of positional identity in the ventral neural tube by the morphogen sonic hedgehog | 2010 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 162 | cc by PMID 20532235 · DOI · PMC2879390 |
| Molecular regionalization of the developing amphioxus neural tube challenges major partitions of the vertebrate brain | 2017 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 104 | cc by PMID 28422959 · DOI · PMC5396861 |
| The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube | 2025 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 14 | cc by PMID 40675154 · DOI · PMC7619239 |
Gene regulatory logic for reading the Sonic Hedgehog signaling gradient in the vertebrate neural tube [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Secreted signals, known as morphogens, provide the positional information that organizes gene expression and cellular differentiation in many developing tissues.
- Closing excerpt
- Our findings reveal that morphogen interpretation is an emergent property of the architecture of a transcriptional network that provides robustness and reliability to tissue patterning.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (140 words)
Secreted signals, known as morphogens, provide the positional information that organizes gene expression and cellular differentiation in many developing tissues. In the vertebrate neural tube, Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) acts as a morphogen to control the pattern of neuronal subtype specification. Using an in vivo reporter of Shh signaling, mouse genetics, and systems modeling, we show that a spatially and temporally changing gradient of Shh signaling is interpreted by the regulatory logic of a downstream transcriptional network. The design of the network, which links three transcription factors to Shh signaling, is responsible for differential spatial and temporal gene expression. In addition, the network renders cells insensitive to fluctuations in signaling and confers hysteresis--memory of the signal. Our findings reveal that morphogen interpretation is an emergent property of the architecture of a transcriptional network that provides robustness and reliability to tissue patterning.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 22265416 · DOI · PMC3267043
Dynamic assignment and maintenance of positional identity in the ventral neural tube by the morphogen sonic hedgehog [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Morphogens are secreted signalling molecules that act in a graded manner to control the pattern of cellular differentiation in developing tissues.
- Closing excerpt
- This suggests an alternative to conventional models of morphogen action that rely solely on the level of signalling.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (201 words)
Morphogens are secreted signalling molecules that act in a graded manner to control the pattern of cellular differentiation in developing tissues. An example is Sonic hedgehog (Shh), which acts in several developing vertebrate tissues, including the central nervous system, to provide positional information during embryonic patterning. Here we address how Shh signalling assigns the positional identities of distinct neuronal subtype progenitors throughout the ventral neural tube. Assays of intracellular signal transduction and gene expression indicate that the duration as well as level of signalling is critical for morphogen interpretation. Progenitors of the ventral neuronal subtypes are established sequentially, with progressively more ventral identities requiring correspondingly higher levels and longer periods of Shh signalling. Moreover, cells remain sensitive to changes in Shh signalling for an extended time, reverting to antecedent identities if signalling levels fall below a threshold. Thus, the duration of signalling is important not only for the assignment but also for the refinement and maintenance of positional identity. Together the data suggest a dynamic model for ventral neural tube patterning in which positional information corresponds to the time integral of Shh signalling. This suggests an alternative to conventional models of morphogen action that rely solely on the level of signalling.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 20532235 · DOI · PMC2879390
Molecular regionalization of the developing amphioxus neural tube challenges major partitions of the vertebrate brain [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- All vertebrate brains develop following a common Bauplan defined by anteroposterior (AP) and dorsoventral (DV) subdivisions, characterized by largely conserved differential expression of gene markers.
- Closing excerpt
- This suggests that these domains have a common developmental and evolutionary origin, as supported by functional experiments manipulating secondary organizers in zebrafish and mice.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (153 words)
All vertebrate brains develop following a common Bauplan defined by anteroposterior (AP) and dorsoventral (DV) subdivisions, characterized by largely conserved differential expression of gene markers. However, it is still unclear how this Bauplan originated during evolution. We studied the relative expression of 48 genes with key roles in vertebrate neural patterning in a representative amphioxus embryonic stage. Unlike nonchordates, amphioxus develops its central nervous system (CNS) from a neural plate that is homologous to that of vertebrates, allowing direct topological comparisons. The resulting genoarchitectonic model revealed that the amphioxus incipient neural tube is unexpectedly complex, consisting of several AP and DV molecular partitions. Strikingly, comparison with vertebrates indicates that the vertebrate thalamus, pretectum, and midbrain domains jointly correspond to a single amphioxus region, which we termed Di-Mesencephalic primordium (DiMes). This suggests that these domains have a common developmental and evolutionary origin, as supported by functional experiments manipulating secondary organizers in zebrafish and mice.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 28422959 · DOI · PMC5396861
The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube [4]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- The vertebrate neural tube generates a large diversity of molecularly and functionally distinct neurons and glia from a small progenitor pool.
- Closing excerpt
- These findings identify a chronotopic spatiotemporal integration strategy in which a global temporal chromatin program determines the output of a spatial gene regulatory network resulting in the ordered allocation of cell type identity.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (149 words)
The vertebrate neural tube generates a large diversity of molecularly and functionally distinct neurons and glia from a small progenitor pool. While the role of spatial patterning in organizing cell fate specification has been extensively studied, temporal patterning, which controls the timing of cell type generation, is equally important. Here, we define a global temporal program operating in progenitors throughout the mouse nervous systems that governs cell fate choices by controlling chromatin accessibility. Perturbation of this cis-regulatory program affects sequential cell fate transitions in neural progenitors and the identity of their progeny. The temporal program operates in parallel to spatial patterning, ensuring the timely availability of regulatory elements for spatial determinants to direct cell-type-specific gene expression. These findings identify a chronotopic spatiotemporal integration strategy in which a global temporal chromatin program determines the output of a spatial gene regulatory network resulting in the ordered allocation of cell type identity.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 40675154 · DOI · PMC7619239
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Pattern formation in the vertebrate neural tube: a sonic hedgehog morphogen-regulated transcriptional network [5]
- Research article Neural tube closure: cellular, molecular and biomechanical mechanisms [6]
- Research article Cilia and developmental signaling [7]
- Research article Establishing and interpreting graded Sonic Hedgehog signaling during vertebrate neural tube patterning: the role of negative feedback [8]
- Research article Genetic, epigenetic, and environmental contributions to neural tube closure [9]
- Research article Dorsal-ventral patterning of the neural tube: a tale of three signals [10]
References
- Balaskas N, Ribeiro A, Panovska J, Dessaud E, Sasai N, Page KM, et al.. Gene regulatory logic for reading the Sonic Hedgehog signaling gradient in the vertebrate neural tube. . 2012. PMID 22265416 · DOI · PMC3267043
- Dessaud E, Ribes V, Balaskas N, Yang LL, Pierani A, Kicheva A, et al.. Dynamic assignment and maintenance of positional identity in the ventral neural tube by the morphogen sonic hedgehog. . 2010. PMID 20532235 · DOI · PMC2879390
- Albuixech-Crespo B, López-Blanch L, Burguera D, Maeso I, Sánchez-Arrones L, Moreno-Bravo JA, et al.. Molecular regionalization of the developing amphioxus neural tube challenges major partitions of the vertebrate brain. . 2017. PMID 28422959 · DOI · PMC5396861
- Zhang I, Boezio GLM, Cornwall-Scoones J, Frith T, Finnie E, Luo J, et al.. The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube. . 2025. PMID 40675154 · DOI · PMC7619239
- Dessaud E, McMahon AP, Briscoe J. Pattern formation in the vertebrate neural tube: a sonic hedgehog morphogen-regulated transcriptional network. Development. 2008. PMID 18621990 · DOI
- Nikolopoulou E, Galea GL, Rolo A, Greene ND, Copp AJ. Neural tube closure: cellular, molecular and biomechanical mechanisms. Development. 2017. PMID 28196803 · DOI · PMC5325323
- Eggenschwiler JT, Anderson KV. Cilia and developmental signaling. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2007. PMID 17506691 · DOI · PMC2094042
- Ribes V, Briscoe J. Establishing and interpreting graded Sonic Hedgehog signaling during vertebrate neural tube patterning: the role of negative feedback. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2009. PMID 20066087 · DOI · PMC2742090
- Wilde JJ, Petersen JR, Niswander L. Genetic, epigenetic, and environmental contributions to neural tube closure. Annu Rev Genet. 2014. PMID 25292356 · DOI · PMC4649936
- Le Dréau G, Martí E. Dorsal-ventral patterning of the neural tube: a tale of three signals. Dev Neurobiol. 2012. PMID 22821665 · DOI
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-10-31; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-10-31.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.