spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Watanabe, K.
Right arrow Articles by Nojyo, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Watanabe, K.
Right arrow Articles by Nojyo, Y.

Development, Vol 103, Issue 1 17-26, Copyright © 1988 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

An embryonic pineal body as a multipotent system in cell differentiation

K Watanabe, H Aoyama, N Tamamaki, T Sonomura, TS Okada, G Eguchi and Y Nojyo
Department of Developmental Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan.

The differentiating potency of pineal cells from 8-day quail embryos was studied with cell culture. It was found that the differentiation of striated muscle fibres occurred abundantly in the pineal cells cultured in hypertonic culture conditions. Muscle nature of these fibres was confirmed by utilizing the antiserum against the striated muscle type creatine kinase (MM-CK). When CO2, NAHCO3, NaCl, KCl and MgCl2 were added in hypertonic concentrations, extensive myogenesis occurred in cultured pineal cells. Myogenesis in pineal cultures began as early as 2 days and, after 3 days in the medium with 75 mM additional NaCl, reached 100-fold when compared with that in the isotonic medium. Muscle fibres from pineal cells in culture were similar in morphology to the skeletal muscle fibres of mesodermal origin in situ. Myogenesis of pineal cells under hypertonic conditions was accompanied by the synthesis of a unique 56 x 10(3) Mr protein, which was not found in the intrinsic muscle cells. Clonal cell culture revealed that about 80% of clonable pineal cells were myogenic precursors. Pineal cells of 8-day quail embryos were not only myogenic but oculopotent (melanogenic and lentoidogenic) in cultures. This study examined whether multipotential progenitor cells with both potentials are present in the pineal or not. The results showed that at least 16% of all clonable pineal cells were multipotent precursors. The embryonic pineal is considered to be a typical multipotent system in parallel with the pigmented and neural retina, the neural crest and the teratocarcinoma.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 DevelopmentHome page
P. Holland, L. Holland, N. Williams, and N. Holland
An amphioxus homeobox gene: sequence conservation, spatial expression during development and insights into vertebrate evolution
Development, January 11, 1992; 116(3): 653 - 661.
[Abstract] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1988