Immunoneutralization of insulin partially modifies dorsoventral patterning in developing frog embryos

Abstract

Determination of anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes is an important early event in the development of vertebrates involving extensive cellular interactions including inductive events. Recently we showed that insulin plays an essential role in prepancreatic development of the frog Microhyla ornata. In the present study we have investigated the effects of immunoneutralization of endogenous insulin on the process of pattern formation. Treatment of neurulating embryos with antiserum to insulin caused abnormal pattern formation. The defects included loss of normal architecture of the neural tube, reduction in the size of the neural tube and, most conspicuously, rotation of the dorsoventral axis of the neural tube, notochord and adjoining mesodermal elements. The effects could be alleviated partially by pretreatment of embryos with exogenous insulin. This supports our belief that insulin plays an important role in induction and pattern formation of the amphibian nervous system. In addition, using 2-deoxy-α-D-glucose, an inhibitor of glucose metabolism, it is shown that the stimulatory effects of exogenous insulin on developing frog embryos are, at least partially, through the glucose metabolism pathway.