Researches on the formation of axial organs in the chick embryo. XI. Experimental investigations into the role of Hensen's node in somitogenesis.
In order to obtain new data with respect to the role of the node area in somitogenesis and to its "individuality" and real regression, three experimental models were applied to 1-7 somite chick embryo 1) UV irradiation of the node area (in vitro); 2) subnodal transsection (in vitro and in ovo); 3) combination of the two interventions. The main results obtained were as follows: The UV irradiation of the node area in chick embryos of early somite stage (1-7 somites) prevents, by necrotizing the cell population of the irradiated zone, the further regression of the node. This result attests the existence of a real, distinct, node cell population and the real character of regression movement. The subnodal transsection of similar embryos of about 0.1-0.2 mm caudal of the node leads (as observed also by several other authors) to the development of a "tail", projecting into the hole formed after the intervention. The "tail" contains axial organs and results from an "autonomous" regression of the node area. The previous irradiation of the node area prevents the shaping of the "tail". In both experimental models, segmentation and somite differentiation is possible caudal of the stopped node area (with the development of median somite blocks) and on the edges of the hole, respectively. Thus the node seems not to be an absolute contributor--by its regression--to the determination (to the second morphogenetic "wave") of somitogenesis (Cooke and Zeeman, 1976; Bellairs, 1980). The arrest of the node area regression does not influence (during the developmental stages studied) the rate of somitogenesis in the anterior part of the segmental plate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000502:physiology*; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000502:physiology; D013623:Tail / Q000196:embryology*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays