Abstract
The paraxial mesenchyme in seven human embryos aged between Carnegie stages 12 and 17 was studied by lectin histochemistry with the lectins AIA, Con A, GSA II, LFA, LTA, PNA, RCA I, SBA, SNA, WGA. The paraxial mesenchyme was found to be segmented into sclerotomes by intersegmental vessels and from late stage 12 by intrasclerotomal clefts dividing each sclerotome into a cranial and caudal half. The lectins Con A, GSA II, LFA, LTA, SBA and SNA did not react at all in the paraxial mesenchyme. Staining for AIA, PNA, RCA I and WGA was found in the developing sclerotomes. However, no differences in the staining pattern between the two sclerotomal halves could be seen. It was striking that in contrast to the chick embryo no differences in binding for PNA between the cranial and caudal sclerotomal parts was observed. These findings reveal that PNA-binding sites do not play the same functional role in segmented axonal outgrowth and neural crest immigration into cranial sclerotomal halves in the human embryo, as found in chick embryonic development. Beginning with the stage 16-embryo, the already condensed caudal sclerotomal halves express Con A-, RCA- and PNA-binding sites. The staining for PNA in particular marked the differentiation of chondrogenous structures developing in this half. From the late stage 12 or stage 13, the walls of intersegmental and other vessels showed binding sites for AIA, PNA, RCA I, SNA and WGA.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alroy J, Goyal V, Skutelsky E (1987) Lectin histochemistry of mammalian endothelium. Histochemistry 86:603–607
Asamaoto K, Noiyo Y, Aoyama H (1990) Do peanut agglutinin receptors on somites control the behavior of neural cells? Dev Growth Differ 32:91–96
Bagnall KM, Sanders EJ (1989) The binding pattern of peanut lectin associated with sclerotome migration and the formation of the vertebral axis in the chick embryo. Anat Embryol 180:505–513
Baur R (1969) Zum Problem der Neugliederung der Wirbelsäule. Acta Anat 72:321–356
Bellairs R, Ede DA, Lash JW (eds) (1986) Somites in developing embryos. NATO ASI Ser A, vol 118. Plenum Press, New York
Blechschmidt E (1960) The stages of human development before birth. An introduction to human embryology. Karger, Basel
Bourrillon R, Aubery M (1989) Cell surface glycoproteins in embryonic development. Int Rev Cytol 116:257–338
Choi HU, Tang L-H, Johnson TL, Rosenberg L (1985) Proteoglycans from bovine nasal and articular cartilages. Fractionation of the link proteins by wheat germ agglutinin affinity chromatography. J Biol Chem 260:13370–13376
Christ B (1990) Entwicklung der Rumpfwand. In: Hinrichsen KV (ed) Humanembryologie. Lehrbuch und Atlas der vorgeburtlichen Entwicklung des Menschen. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York pp 823–837
Christ B, Wilting J (1992) From somites to vertebral column. Ann Anat 174:23–32
Currie JR, Maylié-Pfenninger M-F, Pfenninger KH (1984) Developmentally regulated plasmalemmal glycoconjugates of the surface and neural ectoderm. Dev Biol 106:109–120
Damjanov I (1987) Biology of disease. Lectin cytochemistry and histochemistry. Lab Invest 57:5–20
Davies JA, Cook GMW, Stern CD, Keynes RJ (1990) Isolation from chick somites of a glycoprotein fraction that causes collapse of dorsal root ganglion growth cones. Neuron 2:11–20
Erickson CA, Loring JF, Lester SM (1989) Migratory pathways of HNK-1-immunoreactive neural crest cells in the rat embryo. Dev Biol 134:112–118
Götz W, Fischer G, Herken R (1991) Lectin-binding pattern in the embryonic and early fetal human vertebral column. Anat Embryol 184:345–353
Griffith CM, Sanders EJ (1991) Changes in glycoconjugate expression during early chick embryo development: a lectin-binding study. Anat Rec 231:238–250
Hall BK (1977) Chondrogenesis of the somite mesoderm. Adv Anat Embryol Cell Biol 53:4–53
Hall BK, Miyake T (1992) The membranous skeleton: the role of cell condensations in vertebrate skeletogenesis. Anat Embryol 186:107–124
Hennigar LM, Hennigar RA, Schulte BA (1987) Histochemical specificity of β-galactose-binding lectins from Arachis hypogaea (peanut) und Ricinus communis (Castor bean). Stain Technol 62:317–325
Hoedt-Schmidt S, McClure J, Jasani MK, Kalbhen DA (1993) Immunohistochemical localization of articular cartilage proteoglycan and link protein in situ using monoclonal antibodies and lectin-binding methods. Histochemistry 99:391–403
Keynes RJ, Stern CD (1986) Somites and neural development. In: Bellairs R, Ede DA, Lash JW (eds) Somites in developing embryos. NATO ASI Ser A, vol 118. Plenum Press, New York, pp 289–299
Keynes RJ, Stern CD (1987) Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions during neural segmentation in the chick embryo. In: Wolff JR et al. (eds) Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in neural development. NATO ASI Ser A, vol H5. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, New York pp 309–322
Keynes R, Cook G, Davies J, Lumsden A, Norris W, Stern C (1990) Segmentation and the development of the vertebrate nervous tissue. J Physiol 84:27–32
Lallier TE (1991) Cell lineage and cell migration in the neural crest. Ann NY Acad Sci 615:158–171
Layer PG, Alber R, Rathjen FG (1988) Sequential activation of butyrylcholinesterase in rostral half somites and acetylcholinesterase in motoneurons and myotomes preceding growth of motor axons. Development 102:387–396
Loring JF, Erickson CA (1987) Neural crest cell migratory pathways in the trunk of the chick embryo. Dev Biol 121:220–236
Müller F, O'Rahilly R (1986) Somitic-vertebral correlation and vertebral levels in the human embryo. Am J Anat 177:3–19
Newgreen DF, Powell ME, Moser B (1990) Spatiotemporal changes in HNK-1/L2 glycoconjugates on avian embryo somite and neural crest cells. Dev Biol 139:100–120
Norris WE, Stern CD, Keynes RJ (1989) Molecular differences between the rostral and caudal halves of the sclerotome in the chick embryo. Development 105:541–548
Oakley RA, Tosney KW (1991) Peanut agglutinin and chondroitin-6-sulfate are molecular markers for tissues that act as barriers to axon advance in the avian embryo. Dev Biol 147:187–206
O'Rahilly R, Meyer DB (1979) The timing and sequence of events in the development of the human vertebral column during the embryonic period proper. Anat Embryol 157:167–176
O'Rahilly R, Müller F (1986) The meninges in human development. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 45:588–608
O'Rahilly R, Müller F (1987) Developmental stages in human embryos. Carnegie Institution, Washington
Rickmann M, Fawcett JW, Keynes RJ (1985) The migration of neural crest cells and the growth of motor axons through the rostral half of the chick somite. J Embryol Exp Morphol 90:437–455
Sanders EJ (1986) Cytochemistry of the cell surface and extracellular matrix during early embryonic development. Prog Histochem Cytochem 16:1–57
Sasano Y, Mizoguchi I, Kagayama M, Shum L, Bringas, Jr P, Slavkin HC (1992) Distribution of type I collagen, type II collagen and PNA-binding glycoconjugates during chondrogenesis of three distinct embryonic cartilages. Anat Embryol 186:205–213
Schauer R (1988) Sialic acids as antigenic determinants of complex carbohydrates. In: Wu Am, Adams LG (eds) The molecular immunology of complex carbohydrates. Adv Exp Med Biol 228:47–72
Scott JE (1988) Proteoglycan-fibrillar collagen interaction. Biochem J 252:313–323
Sensenig EC (1949) The early development of the human vertebral column. Contrib Embryol 33:23–41
Stern CD, Sisodiya SM, Keynes RJ (1986) Interactions between neuntes and somite cells: inhibition and stimulation of nerve growth in the chick embryo. J Embryol Exp Morphol 91:209–226
Stern CD, Norris WE, Bronner-Fraser M, Carlson GJ, Faissner A, Keynes RJ, Schachner M (1989) J1/tenascin-related molecules are not responsible for the segmented pattern of neural crest cells or motor axons in the chick embryo. Development 107:309–319
Takagi M (1990) Ultrastructural cytochemistry of cartilage proteoglycans and their relation to the calcification process. In: Bonucci E, Motta PM (eds) Ultrastructure of skeletal tissues. Kluwer, London, pp 111–127
Theiler K (1988) Vertebral malformations. Adv Anat Embryol Cell Biol 112:1–99
Töndury G, Theiler K (1990) Entwicklungsgeschichte und Fehlbildungen der Wirbelsäule. Die Wirbelsäule in Forschung und Praxis, vol 98. 2nd edn. Hippokrates, Stuttgart
Tosney KW, Oakley RA (1990) The perinotochordal mesenchyme acts as a barrier to axon advance in the chick embryo: implications for a general mechanism of axonal guidance. Exp Neurol 109:75–89
Verbout AJ (1985) The development of the vertebral column. Adv Anat Embryol Cell Biol 90:1–120
Wu AM, Sugii S, Herp A (1988) A table of lectin carbohydrate specificities. In: Bøg-Hansen TC, Freed DLJ (eds.) Lectins-biology, biochemistry, clinical biochemistry, vol 6. Sigma, St. Louis, pp 723–740
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Götz, W., Frisch, D., Osmers, R. et al. Lectin-binding patterns in the embryonic human paraxial mesenchyme. Anat Embryol 188, 579–585 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00187013
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00187013