Summary
Somite preparations obtained from 10 to 16 day-old mouse embryos contained spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia and paravertebral myoblasts. These were explanted into Maximow slide assemblies and maintained for months in culture. Neurons with myelinating axons and contracting striated muscle fibers developed. In the living state, axons were observed to penetrate into areas containing mucle fibers where they appeared to terminate. Silver impregnations, histochemical demonstrations of cholinesterase activity and electron microscopic examinations of thin sections verified the development and differentiation of neuro-muscular synapses in the cultured tissue.
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This investigation was supported by grants NB-06735 and NB-05368 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness and grants 433 and 293 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Kennedy Scholar of the Rose F. Kennedy Center for Research in Mental Redardation und Human Development.
Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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Bornstein, M.B., Iwanami, H., Lehrer, G.M. et al. Observations on the appearance of neuromuscular relationships in cultured mouse tissues. Z. Zellforsch. 92, 197–206 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335647
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335647