The migration of neural crest cells and the growth of motor axons through the rostral half of the chick somite
Open Access
- 1 December 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Development
- Vol. 90 (1) , 437-455
- https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.90.1.437
Abstract
We have studied the pathway of migration of neural crest cells through the somites of the developing chick embryo, using the monoclonal antibodies NC-1 and HNK-1 to stain them. Crest cells, as they migrate ventrally from the dorsal aspect of the neural tube, pass through the lateral part of the sclerotome, but only through that part of the sclerotome which lies in the rostral half of each somite. This migration pathway is almost identical to the path which presumptive motor axons take when they grow out from the neural tube shortly after the onset of neural crest migration. In order to see whether the ventral root axons are guided along this pathway by neural crest cells, we surgically excised the neural crest from a series of embryos, and examined the pattern of axon outgrowth approximately 24 h later. In somites which contained no neural crest cells, ventral root axons were still found only in the rostral half of the somite, although axonal growth was slightly delayed. These axons were surrounded by sheath cells, which had presumably migrated out of the neural tube, to a point about 50 μm proximal to the growth cones. With appropriate antibodies we found that the extracellular matrix components fibronectin and laminin are evenly distributed between the rostral and caudal halves of the somite. Neither of these molecules therefore plays a critical role in determining the specific pathway of neural crest cells or motor axons through the rostral half of the somite.This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- Degenerative and regenerative changes in the trochlear nerve of goldfishJournal of Neurocytology, 1984
- A cell surface determinant expressed early on migrating avian neural crest cellsDevelopmental Brain Research, 1983
- Neurite extension by peripheral and central nervous system neurons in response to substratum-bound fibronectin and lamininDevelopmental Biology, 1983
- Factors affecting Schwann cell basal lamina formation in cultures of dorsal root ganglia from mice with muscular dystrophyDevelopmental Brain Research, 1982
- Pathways and mechanisms of avian trunk neural crest cell migration and localizationDevelopmental Biology, 1982
- Distribution of fibronectin in the early phase of avian cephalic neural crest cell migrationDevelopmental Biology, 1982
- Immunocytochemical localization of fibronectin in embryonic chick trunk and area vasculosaDevelopmental Biology, 1981
- The early migration of neural crest cells in the trunk region of the avian embryo: An electron microscopic studyDevelopmental Biology, 1978
- An analysis of the migratory behavior of avian cephalic neural crest cellsDevelopmental Biology, 1975
- Neuroblast versus sheath cell in the development of peripheral nervesJournal of Comparative Neurology, 1924