Developmental origin of the Herbst cutaneous sensory corpuscle. Experimental analysis using cellular markers

Abstract

The development of Herbst cutaneous sensory corpuscles can be obtained in homoplastic and xenoplastic associations of frontal bud and sensory ganglion between different species of birds. Two different techniques of cellular marking were used in the present investigation: (1) Labeling of all cells of one of the components of the association by tritiated thymidine and histoautoradiographic analysis. (2) Xenoplastic recombinations of frontal bud and sensory ganglion between the quail and the duck and between the quail and the chick, and characterization of the origin of the cells by Feulgen staining of the characteristic large-sized nuclear granule of the quail. From a study of the constitution of the chimeric Herbst corpuscles found in the grafts the following findings emerged: (a) The vast majority of the inner bulb cells—if not all of them (which are located along the axial nerve ending) as well as probably some cells of the inner space originate from cells that accompany the nerve during its outgrowth. These cells are present in the spinal ganglion and in the Gasserian ganglion of 5- to 7-day embryos. (b) All other cell categories of corpuscle, namely the capsular cells and the majority of the inner space cells, are provided by the dermal mesenchyme. These results are discussed in relation with what is known about the origin of the various categories of cells in the sheaths of peripheral nerves.