Formation of ganglia in the gut of the chick embryo

Abstract

We have examined the formation of myenteric ganglia in the developing avian enteric nervous system. The monoclonal antibody HNK-1 was used to identify neural-crest-derived cells in whole mounts of fore- and midgut of chick embryos. We find that the crest-derived cells extend processes to their neighbors and form a complex network in the wall of the gut. Formation of this network is an unusual behavior of crest-derived cells and suggests the gut microenvironment is critical to this behavior. This cellular network disappears after ablation of the vagal neural crest, indicating the HNK-1-stained cellular network arises from crest-derived cells. The network is found in the gut wall before the vagal nerve fibers are present. This network is first found in the primordium of the proventriculus, distal to the evagination of the lung buds, and progresses just proximal to the yolk stalk at embryonic day (E) 3.5 and almost to the ileocecal junction at E5.5. The number of cells and the complexity of the network decrease in a rostral-caudal direction down the length of the gut at these stages. The leading edge of the network consists of cells serially arranged in longitudinally running strands. The organization of the network changes with increasing embryonic age; we have focused on network changes in the proventriculus. In the primordium of the proventriculus at E3.5, the network consists of a cluster of one or two adjacent crest-derived cells, which extend processes to a number of neighboring crest-derived cells. At E5.5 large increases in the number of cells per cluster and in the length of cellular connectives between clusters are apparent. At E6.5 a crude meshwork of clusters is seen. At E10.5 the arrangement of cell clusters resembles the pattern of ganglia found in the adult myenteric plexus. This network may provide the environmental cues for the differentiation of enteric neurons and a framework for the pattern of ganglia found in the adult enteric nervous system.