Development of choline acetyltransferase activity in chick cranial neural crest cells in culture

[摘要] Culturesofchickcranialneuralcrestcells,whengrowninmediumcontaininghorseserum(HS),underwentmorphologicalchangesleadingtotheformation,after6daysinculture,ofdenseaggregatesofcells,someofwhichproducedprocessesresemblingneuritefascicles.Incontrast,cranialneuralcrestcellsgrownunderidenticalconditions,butwithfetalcalfserum(FCS)insteadofHS,didnotformaggregates;after7–8days,mostofthesecellswereheavilypigmented.Cholineacetyltransferase(CAT)activitywasabsentorlowinfreshlydissectedneuraltubesfromembryosofstage9andinneuraltubesinculturefor2daysinmediumcontainingeitherHSorFCS.CATactivitywasalsoabsentinneuralcrestcellswhichhadgrownoutinthepresenceofFCSfor6daysorinthepresenceofHSfor2or4days.CellsgrowninmediumcontainingHSfor6daysdevelopedsignificantlevelsofCATactivity.Theseresultsdemonstratethatcranialneuralcrestcellsinculturehavethecapacitytodifferentiateintocholinergiccellsunderspecificconditions.WhenneuralcrestcellswhichhadmigratedfromneuraltubesinmediumcontainingHSwereshiftedtomediumcontainingFCSfor4days,noCATactivitywasdetected.However,whenneuralcrestcellswhichhadmigratedinmediumcontainingFCSwereshiftedtomediumcontainingHSfor4days,thecellsformedaggregatesandCATactivitywaspresent.Thisdemonstratesthatthekindofserumpresentinthemediumdidnotselectfortheoutgrowthofaspecificpredeterminedpopulationofneuralcrestcellsfromtheneuraltube,butratherthatsomefactorassociatedwithsubsequentcultureconditionsinfluencedthecellstobecomecholinergiccellsorpigmentedcells.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）