scholarly journals Vital dye labelling demonstrates a sacral neural crest contribution to the enteric nervous system of chick and mouse embryos

Development ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 857-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.N. Serbedzija ◽  
S. Burgan ◽  
S.E. Fraser ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser

We have used the vital dye, DiI, to analyze the contribution of sacral neural crest cells to the enteric nervous system in chick and mouse embryos. In order to label premigratory sacral neural crest cells selectively, DiI was injected into the lumen of the neural tube at the level of the hindlimb. In chick embryos, DiI injections made prior to stage 19 resulted in labelled cells in the gut, which had emerged from the neural tube adjacent to somites 29–37. In mouse embryos, neural crest cells emigrated from the sacral neural tube between E9 and E9.5. In both chick and mouse embryos, DiI-labelled cells were observed in the rostral half of the somitic sclerotome, around the dorsal aorta, in the mesentery surrounding the gut, as well as within the epithelium of the gut. Mouse embryos, however, contained consistently fewer labelled cells than chick embryos. DiI-labelled cells first were observed in the rostral and dorsal portion of the gut. Paralleling the maturation of the embryo, there was a rostral-to-caudal sequence in which neural crest cells populated the gut at the sacral level. In addition, neural crest cells appeared within the gut in a dorsal-to-ventral sequence, suggesting that the cells entered the gut dorsally and moved progressively ventrally. The present results resolve a long-standing discrepancy in the literature by demonstrating that sacral neural crest cells in both the chick and mouse contribute to the enteric nervous system in the postumbilical gut.

Development ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.N. Serbedzija ◽  
M. Bronner-Fraser ◽  
S.E. Fraser

To permit a more detailed analysis of neural crest cell migratory pathways in the chick embryo, neural crest cells were labelled with a nondeleterious membrane intercalating vital dye, DiI. All neural tube cells with endfeet in contact with the lumen, including premigratory neural crest cells, were labelled by pressure injecting a solution of DiI into the lumen of the neural tube. When assayed one to three days later, migrating neural crest cells, motor axons, and ventral root cells were the only cells types external to the neural tube labelled with DiI. During the neural crest cell migratory phase, distinctly labelled cells were found along: (1) a dorsolateral pathway, under the epidermis, as well adjacent to and intercalating through the dermamyotome; and (2) a ventral pathway, through the rostral portion of each sclerotome and around the dorsal aorta as described previously. In contrast to those cells migrating through the sclerotome, labelled cells on the dorsolateral pathway were not segmentally arranged along the rostrocaudal axis. DiI-labelled cells were observed in all truncal neural crest derivatives, including subepidermal presumptive pigment cells, dorsal root ganglia, and sympathetic ganglia. By varying the stage at which the injection was performed, neural crest cell emigration at the level of the wing bud was shown to occur from stage 13 through stage 22. In addition, neural crest cells were found to populate their derivatives in a ventral-to-dorsal order, with the latest emigrating cells migrating exclusively along the dorsolateral pathway.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 2785-2796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan J. Burns ◽  
Jean-Marie M. Delalande ◽  
Nicole M. Le Douarin

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is derived from vagal and sacral neural crest cells (NCC). Within the embryonic avian gut, vagal NCC migrate in a rostrocaudal direction to form the majority of neurons and glia along the entire length of the gastrointestinal tract, whereas sacral NCC migrate in an opposing caudorostral direction, initially forming the nerve of Remak, and contribute a smaller number of ENS cells primarily to the distal hindgut. In this study, we have investigated the ability of vagal NCC, transplanted to the sacral region of the neuraxis, to colonise the chick hindgut and form the ENS in an experimentally generated hypoganglionic hindgut in ovo model. Results showed that when the vagal NC was transplanted into the sacral region of the neuraxis, vagal-derived ENS precursors immediately migrated away from the neural tube along characteristic pathways, with numerous cells colonising the gut mesenchyme by embryonic day (E) 4. By E7, the colorectum was extensively colonised by transplanted vagal NCC and the migration front had advanced caudorostrally to the level of the umbilicus. By E10, the stage at which sacral NCC begin to colonise the hindgut in large numbers, myenteric and submucosal plexuses in the hindgut almost entirely composed of transplanted vagal NCC, while the migration front had progressed into the pre-umbilical intestine, midway between the stomach and umbilicus. Immunohistochemical staining with the pan-neuronal marker, ANNA-1, revealed that the transplanted vagal NCC differentiated into enteric neurons, and whole-mount staining with NADPH-diaphorase showed that myenteric and submucosal ganglia formed interconnecting plexuses, similar to control animals. Furthermore, using an anti-RET antibody, widespread immunostaining was observed throughout the ENS, within a subpopulation of sacral NC-derived ENS precursors, and in the majority of transplanted vagal-to-sacral NCC. Our results demonstrate that: (1) a cell autonomous difference exists between the migration/signalling mechanisms used by sacral and vagal NCC, as transplanted vagal cells migrated along pathways normally followed by sacral cells, but did so in much larger numbers, earlier in development; (2) vagal NCC transplanted into the sacral neuraxis extensively colonised the hindgut, migrated in a caudorostral direction, differentiated into neuronal phenotypes, and formed enteric plexuses; (3) RET immunostaining occurred in vagal crest-derived ENS cells, the nerve of Remak and a subpopulation of sacral NCC within hindgut enteric ganglia.


Development ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Couly ◽  
N.M. Le Douarin

Areas of the superficial cephalic ectoderm, including or excluding the neural fold at the same level, were surgically removed from 3-somite chick embryos and replaced by their counterparts excised from a quail embryo at the same developmental stage. Strips of ectoderm corresponding to the presumptive branchial arches were delineated, thus defining anteroposterior ‘segments’ (designated here as ‘ectomeres’) that coincided with the spatial distribution of neural crest cells arising from the adjacent levels of the neural fold. This discrete ectodermal metamerisation parallels the segmentation of the hindbrain into rhombomeres. It seems, therefore, that not only is the neural crest patterned according to its rhombomeric origin but that the superficial ectoderm covering the branchial arches may be part of a larger developmental unit that includes the entire neurectoderm, i.e., the neural tube and the neural crest.


2017 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. S40-S41
Author(s):  
Donald Newgreen ◽  
Dongcheng Zhang ◽  
James Osborne ◽  
Bevan Cheeseman ◽  
Benjamin Binder ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dong ◽  
X. Wang ◽  
A.K. Chan ◽  
A.J. Burns ◽  
W.Y. Chan

2011 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 992-1002.e6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Wang ◽  
Alex K.K. Chan ◽  
Mai Har Sham ◽  
Alan J. Burns ◽  
Wood Yee Chan

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document