Abstract
The characterization of molecular and antigenic markers that identify specific vertebrate cells has increased dramatically in recent years. As a result, patterns of cell differentiation and development can be observed in vivo, and subsequently, the tissue interactions and differentiation factors that may operate to establish these patterns can be examined in vitro. Three-dimensional collagen gels provide a culture environment in which in vitro assays can be established, and used to assess the biological activity of one tissue or protein in patterning cells within a second potentially responsive tissue. Initially developed as a means to culture embryonic neuronal tissue and examine the effect of trophic factors (1), such gels have been used more recently to identify tissues and molecules responsible for inductive (2–17), chemotropic (18–23), and chemorepulsive (24,25) interactions. The advantages of a three-dimensional culture system are especially marked when the amount of material that is available to assay is limiting, and so, to date, they have been especially useful in the development of functional bioassays for explanted embryonic tissue. When used in conjunction with in vivo assays, such as described in Chapters 17–19, results obtained from such three-dimensional in vitro assays are especially compelling and can be used to extend and evaluate rapidly an observation made initially in an in vivo bioassay. The ability to assay specific tissues in isolation has many advantages.
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© 1999 Humana Press Inc.
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Placzek, M., Dale, K. (1999). Tissue Recombinations in Collagen Gels. In: Sharpe, P.T., Mason, I. (eds) Molecular Embryology. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 97. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-270-8:293
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-270-8:293
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
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Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-270-8
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