Chicken embryos with fluorescent antibodies that label parts of the developing nervous system
Erica Hutchins, UCSF
Scientists have visualized the early development of the nervous system in chicken embryos.
Minyoung Kim of the University of California, San Francisco dissected two-day-old embryos from eggs and added fluorescent antibodies that bind to and visualize specific proteins in the nervous system.
Images of embryos taken with a confocal laser scanning microscope show developing nerves in green.
Purple shows a group of cells called the neural crest, which migrate through the embryo to form intestinal neurons, facial sensory nerves, and various other cell types.
The cyan color indicates the presence of a protein called ELAVL1, which is involved in neural crest development, says Erica Hutchins of the University of California, San Francisco, who directed the project.
“We use the chick embryo to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neural crest development. This model system develops similarly to the human embryo, but develops outside the mother, so it is not possible to manipulate gene expression or perform live imaging. It makes the approach easier,” she says. .
Hutchins and her team are investigating neural crest development in embryos. This is because some congenital diseases are caused by abnormal migration of these cells. These include Hirschsprung’s disease, in which nerves are lost from parts of the intestine, and familial dysautonomia, which among other things can affect the ability to feel pain.
topic:
- pregnancy and childbirth/
- Embryology
