Laboratory of Experimental Embryology focuses on the general early embryonic development and on molecular signallings during prenatal development of teeth and other cranial structures, as well as of limbs and heart with special focus on Sonic hedgehog pathway. In frame of our research topics, we take advantage from routine usage of transgenic mouse models, cell lineage tracing experiments, RNA sequencing and candidate gene analysis, in situ hybridization and immunostaining We combine advanced in-vitro culturing on the mouse and reptilian tissue and in-ovo cultures on chick with modern imaging technologies. Our developmental biology topics overlap regenerative medicine knowledge and offer gaining of new insights into developmental processes essential for discovering healing technologies and treatment methods.
Head:
RNDr. Mária Hovořáková, PhD.
Contact:
Albertov 4, Praha 2, 128 00
E-mail: maria.hovorakova@lf1.cuni.cz
Phone: 224968128
Research scientists:
Prof. Abigail S. Tucker
RNDr. Mária Hovořáková, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral researcher:
Mgr. Klára Steklíková, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Students:
Linda Šulc Dalecká, MSc.
Zuzana Pavlíková, MSc.
Lucie Horáková, MSc.
Pregraduate students:
Veronika Sejrková
Tereza Smlsalová
Martina Kindlová
Eva Cvingráfová
Technician:
Ivana Koppová
Recent grant support:
GA ČR, 23-06660S Physiological dynamics of odontogenesis in context of surrounding structures (2023 - 2025)
GA ČR, 21-04178S - Integrating Sprouty function with FGF and primary cilia during development. (2021 - 2023)
GA UK, 1312820 - Candidate molecules affecting the initiation of tooth germ. (2020 - 2022)
Cooperation:
King's College, London, UK
Laboratoire de Biologie et Modelisation de la Cellule, Lyon, France
Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
Third Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic
Papers:
2025
Canová N, Šípková J, Arora M, Pavlíková Z, Kučera T, Šeda O, Šopin T, Vacík T, Slanař O. Effects of celastrol on the heart and liver galaninergic system expression in a mouse model of Western-type diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and steatohepatitis. Front Pharmacol. 2025 Feb 4;16:1476994. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1476994. PMID: 39968178; PMCID: PMC11832397.
Dalecka L, Hruba E, Andrasova M, Steklikova K, Pavlikova Z, Kucerova K, Szotkowska T, Bartos M, Buchtova M, Tucker AS, Hovorakova M. Sprouty2/4 deficiency disrupts early signaling centers impacting chondrogenesis in the mouse forelimb. JBMR Plus. 2025 Jan 10;9(3):ziaf002. doi: 10.1093/jbmrpl/ziaf002. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Janečková E, Juarez-Balarezo J, Tucker AS, Matalová E, Holomková K, Gaete M. Metalloproteinases are involved in the regulation of prenatal tooth morphogenesis. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2025 Jan 1;328(1):C323-C333. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00656.2024. Epub 2024 Nov 7.
2024
Pavlikova Z, Zahradnicek O, Jelinek Michaelidesova A, Sramek J, Davidkova M, Hovorakova M. Effect of elevated temperature and hydrocortisone addition on the proliferation of fibroblasts. Histochem Cell Biol. 2024 May 27. doi: 10.1007/s00418-024-02295-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38801536.
Veronika Zahradníčková, Mária Hovořáková, Abigail S. Tucker, Martin Bartoš, Ivan Rehák, Oldřich Zahradníček. Postnatal dentition changes in the Cuban false chameleons: adaptation to a dietary shift. Journal of Vertebrate Biology 73 (24063), 24063.1-20, (12 December 2024). https://doi.org/10.25225/jvb.24063
2023:
Qiu T, Hutečková B, Seppala M, Cobourne MT, Chen Z, Hovořáková M, Buchtová M, Tucker AS. Molecular profiling of the vestibular lamina highlights a key role for Hedgehog signalling. Development. 2023 Apr 1;150(7):dev201464. doi: 10.1242/dev.201464. Epub 2023 Apr 6. PMID: 36971701.
Hedvičáková V, Žižková R, Buzgo M, Vištejnová L, Klein P, Hovořáková M, Bartoš M, Steklíková K, Luňáčková J, Šebová E, Paurová I, Rysová M, Filová E, Rampichová M. The Gradual Release of Alendronate for the Treatment of Critical Bone Defects in Osteoporotic and Control Rats. Int J Nanomedicine. 2023 Feb 1;18:541-560. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S386784. PMID: 36756052; PMCID: PMC9901358.
Horakova L, Dalecka L, Zahradnicek O, Lochovska K, Lesot H, Peterkova R, Tucker AS, Hovorakova M. Eda controls the size of the enamel knot during incisor development. Front Physiol. 2023 Jan 9;13:1033130. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1033130. PMID: 36699680; PMCID: PMC9868551.
Arora M, Pavlíková Z, Kučera T, Kozlík P, Šopin T, Vacík T, Ľupták M, Duda M, Slanař O, Kutinová Canová N. Pharmacological effects of mTORC1/C2 inhibitor in a preclinical model of NASH progression. Biomed Pharmacother. 2023 Nov;167:115447. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.115447. Epub 2023 Sep 8.
2022:
Groborz O, Kolouchová K, Pankrác J, Keša P, Kadlec J, Krunclová T, Pierzynová A, Šrámek J, Hovořáková M, Dalecká L, Pavlíková Z, Matouš P, Páral P, Loukotová L, Švec P, Beneš H, Štěpánek L, Dunlop D, Melo CV, Šefc L, Slanina T, Beneš J, Van Vlierberghe S, Hoogenboom R, Hrubý M. Pharmacokinetics of Intramuscularly Administered Thermoresponsive Polymers. Adv Healthc Mater. 2022 Sep 25:e2201344. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202201344. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36153823.
2021:
Lavicky J, Kolouskova M, Prochazka D, Rakultsev V, Gonzalez-Lopez M, Steklikova K, Bartos M, Vijaykumar A, Kaiser J, Porizka P, Hovorakova M, Mina M, Krivanek J. The development of dentin microstructure is controlled by the type of adjacent epithelium. J Bone Miner Res. 2021 Nov 16. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34783080. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4471.
Hruba E, Kavkova M, Dalecka L, Macholan M, Zikmund T, Varecha M, Bosakova M, Kaiser J, Krejci P, Hovorakova M, Buchtova M. Loss of Sprouty produces a ciliopathic skeletal phenotype in mice through upregulation of Hedgehog signaling. J Bone Miner Res. 2021 Aug 23. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4427. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34423857.
2020:
Hayden L, Lochovska K, Sémon M, Renaud S, Delignette-Muller ML, Vilcot M, Peterkova R, Hovorakova M, Pantalacci S. Developmental variability channels mouse molar evolution. Elife. 2020 Feb 12;9:e50103. doi: 10.7554/eLife.50103.
Hovorakova M, Zahradnicek O, Bartos M, Hurnik P, Stransky J, Stembirek J, Tucker AS. Reawakening of Ancestral Dental Potential as a Mechanism to Explain Dental Pathologies. Integr Comp Biol. 2020 Sep 1;60(3):619-629. doi: 10.1093/icb/icaa053.
Qiu T, Teshima THN, Hovorakova M, Tucker AS. Development of the Vestibular Lamina in Human Embryos: Morphogenesis and Vestibule Formation. Front Physiol. 2020 Jul 16;11:753. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00753. eCollection 2020.
2019:
Sadier A, Twarogowska M, Steklikova K, Hayden L, Lambert A, Schneider P, Laudet V, Hovorakova M, Calvez V, Pantalacci S. Modeling Edar expression reveals the hidden dynamics of tooth signaling center patterning. PLoS Biol. 2019 Feb 7;17(2):e3000064. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000064. eCollection 2019 Feb.
Newton PT, Li L, Zhou B, Schweingruber C, Hovorakova M, Xie M, Sun X, Sandhow L, Artemov AV, Ivashkin E, Suter S, Dyachuk V, El Shahawy M, Gritli-Linde A, Bouderlique T, Petersen J, Mollbrink A, Lundeberg J, Enikolopov G, Qian H, Fried K, Kasper M, Hedlund E, Adameyko I, Sävendahl L, Chagin AS. A radical switch in clonality reveals a stem cell niche in the epiphyseal growth plate. Nature. 2019 Mar;567(7747):234-238. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-0989-6. Epub 2019 Feb 27.
Vesela B, Svandova E, Hovorakova M, Peterkova R, Kratochvilova A, Pasovska M, Ramesova A, Lesot H, Matalova E. Specification of Sprouty2 functions in osteogenesis in in vivo context. Organogenesis. 2019;15(4):111-119. doi: 10.1080/15476278.2019.1656995. Epub 2019 Sep 4.
2018
Hovorakova M, Lesot H, Peterka M, Peterkova R. Early development of the human dentition revisited. J Anat. 2018 Aug;233(2):135-145. doi: 10.1111/joa.12825. Epub 2018 May 10.
Kaucka M, Petersen J, Tesarova M, Szarowska B, Kastriti ME, Xie M, Kicheva A, Annusver K, Kasper M, Symmons O, Pan L, Spitz F, Kaiser J, Hovorakova M, Zikmund T, Sunadome K, Matise MP, Wang H, Marklund U, Abdo H, Ernfors P, Maire P, Wurmser M, Chagin AS, Fried K, Adameyko I. Signals from the brain and olfactory epithelium control shaping of the mammalian nasal capsule cartilage. Elife. 2018 Jun 13;7:e34465. doi: 10.7554/eLife.34465.