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Developmental Plasticity of the Prospective Dermatome and the Prospective Sclerotome Region of an Avian Somite
Author(s) -
Aoyama Hirohiko
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-169x.1993.00507.x
Subject(s) - somite , myotome , quail , anatomy , mesenchyme , biology , embryo , notochord , neural tube , in ovo , paraxial mesoderm , embryogenesis , mesoderm , microbiology and biotechnology , endocrinology , embryonic stem cell , genetics , gene
The ventro‐medial wall of a somite gives rise to the sclerotome and then to cartilaginous axial skeleton, while the dorso‐lateral wall differentiates into the dermomyotome to form dermal mesenchyme and muscle. Although previous studies suggested pluri‐potency of somite cell differentiation, apparent pluri‐potency may be the result of migration of predetermined cells. To investigate whether the developmental fate of any region is determined, I isolated fragments of a region of a quail somite and transplanted them into chick embryos. When a fragment of the ventral wall of a quail somite, the prospective sclerotome, was transplanted into a chick embryo between the ectoderm and a newly formed somite, the transplanted quail cells were shown to form myotome and mesenchyme in 4‐day chimera embryos and to form muscle and dermal tissue in 9‐day chimeras. On the other hand, when a fragment of the dorsal wall of a quail somite, the prospective dermomyotome, was transplanted into a chick embryo between the neural tube and a newly formed somite, the graft gave rise to mesenchyme around the neural tube and notochord and then to vertebral cartilage. Thus the developmental fate of a region of a somite was shown not to be determined at the time of somite segmentation, confirming previous observations.