Neural Crest Development in the Xenopus Laevis Embryo, Studied by Interspecific Transplantation and Scanning Electron Microscopy

The Xenopus borealis quinacrine marker and scanning electron microscopy have been used to study the appearance, migration, and homing of neural crest cells in the embryo of Xenopus. The analysis shows that the primordium of the neural crest develops from the nervous layer of the ectoderm and consists of three segments at early neurula stages. This primordium is located in the lateral halves of the neural folds behind the prospective eye vesicles. The histological and experimental evidence shows that the neural crest cells also originate from the medial portion of the neural folds. The neural crest segments in the cephalic region start to migrate just before the closure of the neural tube. Isotopic and isochronic unilateral grafts of X. borealis neural crest into X. laevis embryos were performed in order to map the fate of the cranial crest segments and the vagal-truncal neural crest. The analysis of the X. laevis host embryos shows that the mandibular crest segment contributes to the lower jaw (Meckel's cartilage), quadrate, and ethmoid-trabecular cartilages, as well as to the ganglionic and Schwann cells of the trigeminus nerve, the connective tissues, the mesenchymal and choroid layers of the eye, and the cornea. The hyoid crest segment is located in the ceratohyal cartilage and in ganglia VII and VIII. The branchial crest segment migrates from the caudal part of the otic vesicle and divides into two portions which contribute to the cartilages of the gills. The vagal-truncal neural crest starts to migrate later at stage 25. It migrates by means of the vagus complex in a ventral direction and penetrates into the splanchnic layer of the digestive tract. The trunk neural crest cells disperse into three different pathways which differ from those of the avian embryo at this level.