6. Organicism, Embryonic Induction, and Morphogenetic Fields

2020 ◽  
pp. 146-162
Keyword(s):  
Embryonic Induction ◽  
Morphogenetic Fields

scholarly journals Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre. I—Chemical properties of the evocator

1935 ◽  
Vol 117 (804) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Active Substance ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Embryonic Induction ◽  
Soluble Substance ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Adult Tissues ◽  
Regional Character ◽  
Organization Centre

During the amphibian egg-laying season of 1933, Needham, Waddington, and Needham (1933, a , b ; 1934) obtained evidence that the activity of the organization centre of the newt gastrula is partly due to the presence of an ether-soluble substance. The active ether extracts were found to be capable of evoking the formation of a neural tube from the competent presumptive epidermis of the gastrula. It seems difficult, however, to suppose that they can determine the regional character of the evoked neural plate, as normal living organizers do, and the active substance is therefore spoken of as the evocator, to emphasize the fact that its functions represent only one part of the whole process of embryonic induction. The presence of the evocator could also be demonstrated in ether extracts of adult newt tissues; and in a research carried out at the same time Holtfreter (1933) showed that the evocator is present in a large number, if not in all, adult tissues from animals belonging to nearly all the groups of the animal kingdom. Holtfreter found that evocation occurred after the implantation of adult tissues which had been killed and treated with various solvents, but he showed that a prolonged extraction with ether tended to lessen, though it did not entirely destroy, the evocating power of the tissue. This result, which so far as it went was confirmatory of Needham, Waddington, and Needham’s work, was, however, denied by Fischer and Wehmeier (1934), who, on repeating the extraction experiments, could confirm the fact that the ether extracts were active, but claimed that the evocating ability of the tissues was not much lessened by the extraction. In a more recent communication (1934, a ) Holtfreter has repeated his extractions, and finds that the activity of the extracted tissue is only slightly lowered. It is very probable, however, that there will be difficulty in extracting the whole of the active ether-soluble substances from a given mass of tissue. There is general agreement that ether extracts contain an active substance.

Changes in lectin-mediated agglutinability during primary embryonic induction in the amphibian embryo

Development ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Francisco D. Barbieri ◽  
Sara S. Sánchez ◽  
Enrique J. Del Pino
Keyword(s):  
Cell Surface ◽  
Concanavalin A ◽  
Cytochalasin B ◽  
The Other ◽  
Embryonic Induction ◽  
Potassium Oxalate ◽  
Amphibian Embryo ◽  
Structural Alterations ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Primary Embryonic Induction

The present study was undertaken to investigate structural alterations at the surfaceof presumptive neural cells after primary embryonic induction. For this purpose, plant lectinmediated agglutinability of dissociated cells from the epiblast of Bufo arenarum gastrulae was tested. Two fragments of epiblast were excised from the same mid-gastrula: one from the dorsal side of the egg, making contact with the invaginating chordamesoblast and assumed to be composed of determined cells and the other from the ventral region of the egg, facing the blastocoele cavity and assumed to be composed of undetermined cells. Cells of the pooled fragments were dissociated in calcium-free Holtfreter's solution with potassium oxalate and incubated in the presence of different concentrations of phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A. Epiblast cells overlying the archenteron roof are less agglutinated with both lectins than undetermined cells. On the other hand, when egg fragments were removed from the dorsal and ventral regions of early gastrulae before the archenteron was formed, no significant difference in lectin-mediated agglutinability was observed, even after having been cultured in vitro in absence of inducing tissue. These results suggest that the target of the inducing signal generated in the mesoblast is likely to be located on the surface of epiblast cells. Additional experiments showed that cells pretreated with colchicine, cytochalasin B or colchicine and cytochalasin B simultaneously exhibit no significant variation in agglutinability, suggesting that the cytoskeleton was not be involved in the cell surface alteration here described. Treatment of whole embryos or sandwich explants with concanavalin A or phytohemagglutinin has no effect on neural tube formation, suggesting that the carbohydratecontaining binding sites for these lectins are not involved in primary embryonic induction. Changes in cell agglutinability described in this paper are to be interpreted thus as a secondary expression of structural alterations in the cell surface concomitant with neural determination.

Embryonic induction — molecular prospects

Development ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. GURDON
Keyword(s):  
Embryonic Induction

The Florey Lecture, 1988 - From egg to embryo: the initiation of cell differentiation in Amphibia

1989 ◽  
Vol 237 (1286) ◽  
pp. 11-25 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Cell ◽  
Gene Activation ◽  
Cell Formation ◽  
Gene Promoter ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Embryonic Induction ◽  
Differentiated Cells ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Muscle Genes

Some of the principles by which different cell types first arise at the beginning of animal development are illustrated by muscle cell formation in Amphibia. If the nucleus of a differentiated muscle cell is transplanted to an enucleated egg, some of the resulting embryos develop into tadpoles with a wide range of normally differentiated cells. These experiments show that genes undergo major changes in activity as a response to components of egg cytoplasm. Two fundamental mechanisms account for the regional activation of genes in early embryos. One involves the effect of localized ‘determinants’ in egg cytoplasm, and the other concerns cell interactions or embryonic induction. Both these mechanisms seem to be responsible for muscle cell formation in amphibian development. The old problem of embryonic induction has recently become accessible to analysis at the molecular level, especially in the case of the mesoderm or muscle-forming induction. This has been greatly facilitated by using a sensitive and quantitative assay to detect the first transcripts of muscle genes a few hours after the start of induction. The role of early events and of interactions among like cells during response to induction is discussed. In analysing specific gene activation following induction, DNA injection into fertilized eggs has shown that a very small part of the cardiac actin gene promoter is sufficient to enable it to respond to induction. Although the experimental work summarized here has been done on amphibian embryos, which are more suitable than other embryos for embryological manipulation, the conclusions reached are believed to be generally applicable to the development of other organisms.

Neural cell adhesion molecules during embryonic induction and development of the kidney

Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Klein ◽  
M. Langegger ◽  
C. Goridis ◽  
P. Ekblom
Keyword(s):  
Cell Adhesion ◽  
Adhesion Molecules ◽  
Cell Adhesion Molecules ◽  
Kidney Development ◽  
Neural Cell ◽  
Cell Polarization ◽  
Embryonic Induction ◽  
Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Neural Cell Adhesion

The neural cell adhesion molecules (N-CAM) are a family of related glycoproteins with Mr of 180, 140 and 120 × 10(3) (180K etc.). In the embryo, they are often highly sialylated and migrate as a diffuse band of 170–250K. N-CAM are found in non-neural tissues and we have now studied the expression of N-CAM in the developing mouse kidney. During kidney development, a unique conversion of a mesenchyme to an epithelium occurs and it is thought that this is mediated by an increase in cell adhesivity. By immunofluorescence, we show that N-CAM is present already at onset of kidney development on the cells of the uninduced nephrogenic mesenchyme. After induction, when the cells convert into an epithelium, they lose N-CAM gradually and instead begin to express uvomorulin, another primary CAM. By using an organ culture model, we could rather precisely show that N-CAM and uvomorulin are coexpressed for a short period, but, when epithelial cell polarization is evident, only uvomorulin is present on the epithelium, whereas N-CAM is confined to the surrounding mesenchyme. Immunoblotting for N-CAM revealed that the ‘embryonic’ form of N-CAM, the broad 170–250K band was not present in the embryonic kidney, which instead expressed the three distinct 180K, 140K and 120K bands typical of adult neurones. The 180K and 140K bands were gradually lost during development and were no longer detectable in adult kidneys. By using an N-CAM cDNA, we detected three different mRNAs of 7.4, 6.7 and 4.3 kb in the developing kidney, but this expression was restricted to the embryonic and early postnatal stages. No transcripts were detectable in adult kidneys. The studies do not support the hypothesis that N-CAM expression in the kidney is turned on by embryonic induction. Rather, we suggest that N-CAM are important adhesives for the predetermined, but not yet induced, nephrogenic mesenchyme.

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