In Ovo Electroporation as a Useful Tool to Pursue Molecular Mechanisms of Neural Development in Chick Embryos

Abstract

In the field of developmental biology, electroporation has become a routine technique for gene transfer because of its simplicity and wide range of application. In chick embryos, the in ovo electroporation technique has enabled molecular analysis of developmental mechanisms in chick embryos and has revived chick embryos as the model animals in developmental biology (Muramatsu et al., 1997; Sakamoto et al., 1998; Funahashi et al., 1999; Nakamura et al., 2000). Especially, many gene analyses were conducted in developing neural tube, because the neural tube is a convenient tissue for application of in ovo electroporation. Here, we show the application of in ovo electroporation to the developmental neural tube in chick embryo.