title: Wound healing ability of Xenopus laevis embryos. II. Morphological analysis of wound marginal epidermis.
abstract: We previously showed that bisectional wounds made in Xenopus laevis embryos at the primary eye vesicle stage were rapidly closed. In this study, microscopic analyses, including scanning electron microscopy, on the morphology of the epidermis were conducted during wound closure in the half embryos. Bright fluorescence of Texas red-phalloidin showing actin filaments started to be visualized at the cut edge 10 min after wounding. It increased with time, forming a distinguished, though discontinuous, bundle along the wound margin. The wound closure was completely inhibited by 20 microm cytochalasin B, and almost completely by 50 mm 2,3-butanedione 2-monoxime, an inhibitor to myosin ATPase activity. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the outer epidermal cells became extensively elongated in the radial direction, and the contour of the closing wound edge did not become smoother but remained ragged. Thus, a representative embryonic type of wound closure may be driven in Xenopus embryos by a complex mechanism, involving not only the actin 'purse-string' but also an inward movement of individual cells. Anyhow, the wound closure is a movement of the epidermal sheet maintaining cell-cell contact, and not involving locomotion of single cells separated from the wound edge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Nishikawatsu 1060, Matsue, Shimane 690-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshii
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Setsunosuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ihara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D014982:Xenopus laevis