Summary
Neuroblasts, growing from cerebral cortices of embryonic mice, Theiler stages 16, 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24 (embryonic days (ed) 10, 111/2, 12, 13, 15 and 16) were cultured in plasma clot and serum-containing MEM-medium in whole-mount cultures, suspension cultures or single-cell cultures. In whole-mount cultures, cell connections were preserved, allowing continuity of cell interactions in vivo and in vitro. In suspension cultures cell adherences and contacts were interrupted by the dissociation procedure. However, contacts re-establish when cells re-aggregate. In single-cell cultures, neuroblasts were cultured without cell-to-cell contacts, and were deprived of potentially mediating cell interactions. Individual features of these cells supposedly reflected both the effect of the medium-derived environment and the state of their intrinsic program at the time of culturing. The neuroblasts' potential for differentiation into GABAergic neurons was studied in all three kinds of culture. GABAergic neurons developed in both tissue samples and suspension cultures, in small numbers from 111/2-day-old embryos (stage 19), but in increasing numbers in cortices of advanced ages. GABA immunoreactivity starts at day 3 in vitro and persists throughout the whole culture period of up to 26 days. Neuroblasts developed in sufficient numbers without cell-to-cell contacts at the earliest in cultures from 12-day-old embryos (stage 20). At that time a few nerve cells expressed GABA after 3 days in vitro. Immunoreactivity increased and persisted until at least day 9. These results indicate that the GABAergic phenotype is expressed irrespective of whether physical cell-to-cell contacts are present or not. Moreover, differences are apparent in the intrinsic program of neuroepithelial cells prior to their display in vivo.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler R, Hatlee M (1989) Plasticity and differentiation of embryonic retinal cells after terminal mitosis. Science 243:391–393
Adler JE, Schleifer LS, Black IB (1989) Partial purification and characterization of a membrane-derived factor regulating neurotransmitter phenotypic expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:1080–1083
Alho H, Ferrarese C, Vicini S, Vaccarino F (1988) Subsets of GA-BAergic neurons in dissociated cell cultures of neonatal rat cerebral cortex show co-localization with specific modulator peptides. Dev Brain Res 39:193–204
Banker GA, Waxman AB (1988) Hippocampal neurons generate natural shapes in cell culture. In: Lasek RJ, Black MM (eds) Intrinsic determinants of neuronal form and function. Neurology and neurobiology, vol 37. Alan R Liss, New York, pp 61–82
Barakat I, Sensenbrenner M, Vincendon G (1982) The importance of cell contact for the proliferation of neuroblasts in culture and its stimulation by menningeal extract. Neurochem Res 7 (3):287–300
Bartlett PF, Reid HH, Bailey KA, Bernard O (1988) Immortalization of mouse neural precursor cells by the c-myc oncogene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:3255–3259
Black IB (1982) Stages of neurotransmitter development in autonomic neurons. Science 215:1198–1204
Buse E (1988) Experimented Untersuchungen zu Determinations-vorgängen an den ventrikulären Zellen des Neuroepithels der Maus. Habilitationsschrift. Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel
Buse E, Krisch B (1987) The mouse neural plate as starting material for studying neuronal differentiation in vitro. Anat Embryol 175:331–340
Buse E, Matthaei H (1983) Single neuron cultivation of embryonic and perinatal rabbit or rat brains based on plasma clot technique. Dev Brain Res 7:221–234
Buse E, Kindler-Röhrborn A, Rajewsky M (1989) In vitro experiments on neuronal and glial cell lineages among the ventricular cells of the mouse neural plate. Int J Dev Neurosci 7(1):103–113
Cepko C (1988) Retrovirus vectors and their applications in neurobiology. Neuron 1:345–353
Changeux J-P (1983) Concluding remarks: On the “singularity” of nerve cells and its ontogenesis. Prog Brain Res 58:465–478
Chronwall B, Wolff JR (1980) Prenatal and postnatal development of GABA-accumulating cells in the occipital neocortex of rat. J Comp Neurol 190:187–208
Cochard P, Paulin D (1984) Initial expression of neurofilaments and vimentin in the central and peripheral nervous system of the mouse embryo in vivo. J Neurosci 4:2080–2094
Coyle JT, Enna SJ (1976) Neurochemical aspects of the ontogenesis of GABAergic neurons in the rat brain. Brain Res 111:119–133
Daikoku S, Chikamori-Aoyama M, Tokuzen M, Okamura Y, Kagotani Y (1988) Development of hypothalamic neurons in intraventricular grafts: Expression and specific transmitter phenotypes. Dev Biol 126:382–393
Dotti CG, Banker GA (1987) Experimentally induced alteration in the polarity of developing neurons. Nature 330:254–256
Engele J, Pilgrim Ch, Kirsch M, Reisert I (1989) Different developmental potentials of diencephalic and mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons in vitro. Brain Res 483:98–109
Fairén A, Cobas A, Fonseca M (1986) Times of generation of glutamic acid decarboxylase immunoreactive neurons in mouse somatosensory cortex. J Comp Neurol 251:67–83
Gardette R, Courtois M, Bisconte J-C (1982) Prenatal development of mouse central nervous structures: Time of neuron origin and gradients of neuronal production. A autoradiographic study. J Hirnforsch 23:415–431
Gruol DL, Crimi CP (1988) Morphological and physiological properties of rat cerebellar neurons in mature and developing cultures. Dev Brain Res 41:135–146
Henderson LP, Spitzer NC (1986) Autonomous early differentiation of neurons and muscle cells in single cell cultures. Dev Biol 113:381–387
Herrup K, Diglio TJ, Letsou A (1984) Cell lineage relationships in the development of the mammalian CNS. I. The facial nerve nucleus. Dev Biol 103:329–336
Houlé J, Fedoroff S (1983) Temporal relationship between the appearance of vimentin and neural tube development. Dev Brain Res 9:189–195
Jacobson MC (1979) Developmental neurobiology. Plenum Press, New York
Kato T (1980) Biochemical characteristics of individual neurons. In: Fedoroff S, Hertz E (eds) Advances in cellular neurobiology, vol 1. Academic Press, New York, pp 119–176
Kessler JA (1986) Differential regulation of cholinergic and peptidergic development in the rat striatum in culture. Dev Biol 113:77–89
Kindler-Röhrborn A, Ahrens O, Liepelt U, Rajewsky MF (1985) Expression of monoclonal antibody-defined cell surface antigens during rat brain development. Differentiation 30:53–60
Landis SC (1988) Neurotransmitter plasticity in sympathetic neurons and its regulation by environmental factors in vitro and in vivo. In: Björklund A, Hökfelt T (eds) Handbook of chemical neuroanatomy, vol 6. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 1–50
Lasek RJ (1988) Studying the intrinsic determinants of neurona form and function. In: Lasek RJ, Black MM (eds) Intrinsic determinants of neuronal form and function, neurology and neurobiology, vol 37. Alan Liss, New York, pp 1–58
Lauder JM, Han VKM, Henderson P, Verdoorn T, Towle AC (1986) Prenatal ontogeny of the GABAergic system in the rat brain: An immunocytochemical study. Neurosci 19 (2):465–493
LeDouarin NM, Smith J (1988) Development of the peripheral nervous system: Cell line segregation and chemical differentiation of neural crest cells. In: Björklund A, Hökfelt T (eds) Handbook of chemical neuroanatomy, vol 6. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 65–116
Eoo DT, Fuquay JI, Rawson CE, Barnes DW (1987) Extended culture of mouse embryo cells without senescence: Inhibition by serum. Science 236:200–202
Luskin MB, Pearlman AL, Sanes JR (1988) Cell lineage in the cerebral cortex of the mouse studied in vivo and in vitro with a recombinant retrovirus. Neuron 1:635–647
Mattson MP (1988) Neurotransmitters in the regulation of neuronal cytoarchitecture. Brain Res Rev 13:179–212
McConnell SK (1988) Development and decision-making in the mammalian cerebral cortex. Brain Res Rev 13:1–23
Montague PR, Friedlander MJ (1989) Expression of an intrinsic growth strategy by mammalian retinal neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:7223–7227
Mugnaini E, Oertel WH (1985) An atlas of the distribution of GABAergic neurons and terminals in the rat CNS as revealed by GAD immunohistochemistry. In: Björklund A, Hökfelt T (eds) Handbook of chemical neuroanatomy, vol 4. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 436–608
Nieuwenhuys R (1985) Chemoarchitecture of the brain. Springer, Berlin
Purves D, Lichtman JW (1985) Principles of Neural Development. Sinauer Publ, Sunderland, Massachusetts
Puymirat J, Faivre-Bauman A, Bizzini B, Tixier-Vidal A (1982) Prenatal and postnatal ontogenesis of neurotransmitter-synthesizing enzymes and [125]tetanus toxin binding capacity in the mouse hypothalamus. Dev Brain Res 3:199–206
Rakic P (1984) Emergency of neuronal and glial lineages in primate brain. In: Black IB (ed) Cellular and molecular biology of neuronal development. Plenum Press, New York, pp 29–50
Reinhard-Maelicke S (1988) Charakterisierung zellulärer Antigene im Verlauf der Pränatalentwicklung des Rattengehirns mit Hilfe monoklonaler Antikörper. Dissertation, Institut für Zellbiologie (Tumorforschung) Univ Essen, FRG
Reisert I, Engele J, Pilgrim Ch (1989) Early sexual differentiation of diencephalic dopaminergic neurons of the rat in vitro. Cell Tissue Res 255:411–417
Robain O, Barbin G, Ben-Ari Y, Rozenberg F, Prochiantz A (1987) GABAergic neurons of the hippocampus: Development in homotopic grafts and in dissociated cell cultures. Neuroscience 23, 1:73–86
Sanes JR (1989) Analysing cell lineage with a recombinant retrovirus. TINS 12, 1:21–28
Scholes JH (1987) Uncertainties in the retina. Nature 328:114–115
Seguela Ph, Geffard M, Buijs RM, LeMoal M (1984) Antibodies against γ-aminobutyric acid: Specificity studies and immunocytochemical results. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:3888–3892
Sevier AC, Munger BL (1965) A silver method for paraffin sections of neural tissue. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 24:130–135
Solomon F (1981) Specification of cell morphology by endogenous determinants. J Cell Biol 90:547–555
Temple S (1989) Division and differentiation of isolated CNS blast cells in microculture. Nature 340:471–473
Theiler K (1972) The house mouse. Springer, New York
Thoenen H, Bandtlow Ch, Heumann R (1987) The physiological function of nerve growth factor in the central nervous system: Comparison with the periphery. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol 109:145–183
Thomas WE (1985) Synthesis of acetylcholine and γ-amino butyric acid by dissociated cerebral cortical cells in vitro. Brain Res 332:79–89
Turner DL, Cepko CL (1987) A common progenitor for neurons and glia persists in rat retina late in development. Nature 328:131–136
Vogel KS, Weston JA (1988) A subpopulation of cultured avian neural crest cells has transient neurogenic potential. Neuron 1:569–577
Watt FM, Jordan PW, O'Neill ChH (1988) Cell shape controls terminal differentiation of human epidermal keratinocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:5576–5580
Wolinsky EJ, Landis SC, Patterson PH (1985) Expression of noradrenergic and cholinergic traits by sympathetic neurons cultured without serum. J Neurosci 5(6):1497–1508
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buse, E. Generation of GABA-synthesizing nerve cells cultured from embryonic cortex cerebri of mice with and without cell-to-cell contacts. Anat Embryol 182, 151–160 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00174014
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00174014