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Embryonic development of the nervous system of the rhabdocoel flatworm Mesostoma lingua (Abildgaard, 1789)
Author(s) -
YounossiHartenstein Amelia,
Ehlers Ulrich,
Hartenstein Volker
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9861(20000124)416:4<461::aid-cne4>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - biology , commissure , nervous system , embryogenesis , embryo , anatomy , embryonic stem cell , neural tube , neuroscience , neural crest , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gene
We have analyzed the embryonic development of the Mesostoma nervous system, using a combination of histology, transmission electron microscopy, and wholemount immunohistochemistry. Neural progenitors are formed at an early stage when the Mesostoma embryo constitutes a multilayered mesenchymal mass of cells. A neurectoderm as in vertebrates or arthropods is absent. Only after neurons in the deep layers of the embryo have started differentiating do superficial cells reorganize into an epithelium that will give rise to the epidermis. Neurons are clustered in two anterior, bilaterally symmetric brain hemispheres. An antibody against acetylated beta‐tubulin (anti‐acTub) that labels neurotubules reveals an invariant pattern of pioneer neurons in the brain of midstage embryos. Pioneer neurons are grouped in several small clusters at characteristic positions. They pioneer several commissural tracts of the brain and two pairs of ventral and dorsal connectives, respectively. J. Comp. Neurol. 416:461–474, 2000.