Analysis of developmentally homogeneous neural crest cell populations in vitro: I. Formation, morphology and differentiative behavior☆

[摘要] Whenearlyembryonicquailneuraltubesaredissectedfreefromsurroundingtissuesandplacedinculture,smallstellateneuralcrestcellsusuallymigratefromtheexplantontothesubstratum.Thisoutgrowthhasbeenreportedtoconsistofamixtureofcells,someofwhichundergomelanogenesis,whiletherestremainunpigmented.Wehave,incontrasttoearlierobservations,obtainedaspatialseparationofthetwophenotypes.Intheseculturestheprimaryoutgrowthofmigratingcellsremainedalmostfreeofpigment-formingcells,whereassmallsphericalclusterscontainingseveralhundredpigment-formingcellsappearedontheexplantedneuraltubes.Whethertheclustersremainedwiththetubeexplantsorweresubcultured,allclustercellsdifferentiatedintomelanocytes.Priortomelanogenesis,theappearanceoftheculturedcellsfromaclusterwasindistinguishablefromthecellsintheoutgrowth.Theclustersprovideasourceofneuralcrestcells,that(1)canbeeasilyobtainedincomparativelylargenumbers,(2)isnotcontaminatedwithanyothercelltype,(3)canbeisolatedbeforetheonsetofdifferentiation,and(4)isdevelopmentallyhomogeneous.Thus,theclusterpopulationiswellsuitedformanytypesofexperiments,suchastheidentificationofspecificenvironmentalfactorsthatmightcontrolneuralcrestcelldifferentiation.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）