Lens-forming transformations in the outer cornea of larvalXenopus laevis induced by implanted spinal ganglia

✍ Scribed by Filoni, Sergio ;Bosco, Luigi ;Cioni, Carla ;Burani, Paola

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 942 KB
• Volume: 230
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402300310

✦ Synopsis

Lumbar ganglia innervating regenerating and normal hindlimbs were removed from larval Xenopus laevis at stage 56-57 (according to Nieuwkoop and Faber, '56) and implanted between the outer and inner corneas of larvae of the same species at stage 50. The control experiments consisted of implanting fragments of liver beneath the outer cornea or of merely separating the two corneas. Results show that the ganglia innervating regenerating limbs and normal ganglia can induce visible lens-forming transformations in the outer cornea, although the percentage of successful cases obtained after the implant of normal ganglia is noticeably lower than that of the ganglia that innervate regenerating limbs. The results are interpreted as due to the action of a neurotrophic factor capable of replacing the action of the retinal factor(s) and produced either by ganglion cells that innervate regenerating limbs or by normal ganglion cells. Nevertheless, normal ganglia are thought to produce less of this substance than ganglia innervating regenerating limbs. No lensforming transformations have ever been found in the controls.