Mouse-chick chimera: a developmental model of murine neurogenic cells.
Chimeras were prepared by transplanting fragments of neural primordium from 8- to 8.5- and 9-day postcoital mouse embryos into 1.5- and 2-day-old chick embryos at different axial levels. Mouse neuroepithelial cells differentiated in ovo and organized to form the different cellular compartments normally constituting the central nervous system. The graft also entered into the development of the peripheral nervous system through migration of neural crest cells associated with mouse neuroepithelium. Depending on the graft level, mouse crest cells participated in the formation of various derivatives such as head components, sensory ganglia, orthosympathetic ganglionic chain, nerves and neuroendocrine glands. Tenascin knockout mice, which express lacZ instead of tenascin and show no tenascin production (Saga, Y., Yagi, J., Ikawa, Y., Sakakura, T. and Aizawa, S. (1992) Genes and Development 6, 1821-1838), were specifically used to label Schwann cells lining nerves derived from the implant. Although our experiments do not consider how mouse neural tube can participate in the mechanism required to maintain myogenesis in the host somites, they show that the grafted neural tube behaves in the same manner as the chick host neural tube. Together with our previous results on somite development (Fontaine-Pérus, J., Jarno, V., Fournier Le Ray, C., Li, Z. and Paulin, D. (1995) Development 121, 1705-1718), this study shows that chick embryo constitutes a privileged environment, facilitating access to the developmental potentials of normal or defective mammalian cells. It allows the study of the histogenesis and precise timing of a known structure, as well as the implication of a given gene at all equivalent mammalian embryonic stages.
Fontaine-Pérus
J
J
CNRS ERS 6107, Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques, Nantes, France.fontaine@nat.svt.sciences.univ-nantes.fr
Halgand
P
P
Chéraud
Y
Y
Rouaud
T
T
Velasco
M E
ME
Cifuentes Diaz
C
C
Rieger
F
F
D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000737:chemistry / Q000196:embryology*; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004848:Epithelium / Q000196:embryology; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation; D005724:Ganglia / Q000196:embryology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051957:MSX1 Transcription Factor; D008544:Melanocytes; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000637:transplantation; D051379:Mice / Q000196:embryology*; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D009132:Muscles / Q000196:embryology; D017570:MyoD Protein / Q000032:analysis; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000196:embryology; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000196:embryology; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000637:transplantation; D012249:Rhombencephalon / Q000196:embryology; D019170:Somites; D014157:Transcription Factors; D018183:Transplantation Chimera
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D051957:MSX1 Transcription Factor; D017570:MyoD Protein; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors