Organization of the chick blastoderm edge

Development ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-635
Author(s):  
J. Roger Downie ◽  
Susan M. Pegrum

A band of cells forming the edge of the chick blastoderm, and attached to the vitelline membrane, causes the expansion of the blastoderm in the first few days of incubation by active migration across the vitelline membrane. The structure and organization of these cells was examined by light microscopy (both on whole mounts and sections) and transmission electron microscopy. The account presented differs markedly from previous descriptions of these cells. The band of cells at the blastoderm edge is an association, between 90 and 130 µm wide, of flattened, non-dividing cells forming a multilayer; some of these cells, and no other cells of the blastoderm, are attached to the vitelline membrane. Each attached cell has a thin flattened lamella, centrifugally oriented and underlapping the next cell distally, except (1) the most distal cell, whose lamella is thick and long, though tapering, and is not overlain by other cells; and (2) the most proximal attached cell which has a short centripetally oriented lamella, as well as a centrifugal underlapping one. The cells of the edge band not attached to the vitelline membrane also have flattened lamellae attached to the cells below; these lamellae are, however, unoriented. The cells of the edge band all have plentiful cortical filaments and cytoplasmic microtubules. Specialized plaques are involved in the attachment of edge band cells to the vitelline membrane. The form of this edge structure is compared with the outgrowth edge of a chick yolk sac epiblast explant cultured on vitelline membrane. It seems likely that the way the blastoderm edge cells are organized may explain their prodigious migratory activity.

Development ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-277
Author(s):  
J. R. Downie

Since their discovery, cytoplasmic microtubules have been much studied in the context of cell movement and cell shape change. Much of the work has used drugs, particularly colchicine and its relatives, which break down microtubules — the so-called anti-tubulins. Colchicine inhibits the orientated movements of many cell types in vitro, and disrupts cell shape change in several morphogenetic situations. The investigation reported here used chick blastoderm expansion in New culture in an attempt to quantify the colchicine effect on orientated cell movement. However, although colchicine could halt blastoderm expansion entirely, a simple interpretation was not possible. (1) Colchicine at concentrations capable of blocking mitosis, and of disrupting all or most of the cytoplasmic microtubules of the cells studied, inhibited blastoderm expansion, often resulting in an overall retraction of the cell sheet. (2) Though blastoderm expansion does normally involve considerable cell proliferation, the colchicine effect could not be ascribed to a block on cell division since aminopterin, which stops cell division without affecting microtubules, did not inhibit expansion. (3) Blastoderm expansion is effected by the locomotion of a specialized band of edge cells at the blastoderm periphery. These are the only cells normally attached to the vitelline membrane — the substrate for expansion. When most of the blastoderm was excised, leaving the band of edge cells, and the cultures then treated with colchicine, expansion occurred normally. The colchicine effect on blastoderm expansion could not therefore be ascribed to a direct effect on the edge cells. (4) An alternative site of action of the drug is the remaining cells of the blastoderm. These normally become progressively flatter as expansion proceeds. If flattening in these cells is even partially dependent on their cytoplasmic microtubules, disruption of these microtubules might result in the inherent contractility of the cells resisting and eventually halting edge cell migration. That cell shape in these cells is dependent on microtubules was demonstrated by treating flat blastoderm fragments with colchicine. On incubation, the area occupied by these fragments decreased by 25–30 % more than controls. The significance of these results in the general context of orientated cell movements and cell shape determination is discussed, with particular emphasis on the analogous system of Fundulus epiboly.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1134-1135
Author(s):  
K. Kaji ◽  
T. Aoyama ◽  
S. Taya ◽  
S. Isakozawa

The ability to obtain elemental maps processed by using inelastically scattered electrons in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) or a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is extremely useful in the analysis of materials, and semiconductor devices such as ULSI’s and GMR heads. Electron energy loss spectra (EELS) also give useful information not only to identify unknown materials but also to study chemical bonding states of the objective atoms. Hitachi developed an elemental mapping system, consisting of a STEM (Hitachi, HD- 2000) equipped with a two-window energy filter (Hitachi, ELV-2000), and performed realtime conventional jump-ratio images with nanometer resolution by in-situ calculation of energy-filtered signals [1]. Additional function of acquiring EELS along any lines on specimen has been developed in this system to investigate the energy loss near edge structure (ELNES).Figure 1 shows a schematic figure of the two-window energy filter, consisting of two quadrupole lenses for focusing and zooming spectra, respectively, a magnetic prism spectrometer, a deflection coil and two kinds of electron beam detectors.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Uetake ◽  
Sachi Mouri ◽  
Setsiri Haesuwannakij ◽  
Kazu Okumura ◽  
Hidehiro Sakurai

<div>Although changing the size of metal nanoparticle (NP) is a reasonable way to tune and/or enhance their catalytic activity, size-selective preparation of NP possessing random-alloy morphology has been challenging because of the differences in the ionization potential of each metal ion. This study demonstrates a time-controlled aggregation–stabilization method for a size-selective preparation of random alloy NPs composed of Au and Pd, which are stabilized by poly(<i>N</i>-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP). By adjusting the mixing time in the presence of a small amount of PVP, the aggregation was induced to produce AuPd:PVP with sizes ranging between 1.2 and 8.2 nm at approximately 1 nm intervals. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analyses clearly indicated the formation of various sizes of AuPd nanoalloys with almost the same morphology, and size-dependent catalytic activity was observed when hydrodechlorination of 4-choroanisole was performed using 2-propanol as a reducing agent. AuPd:PVP with a size of 3.1 nm exhibited the highest catalytic activity. A comparison of the absorption edges on x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra suggested that the electronic state of the Au and Pd species correlated with their catalytic activity, presumably affecting the rate-determining step.</div><div> </div>


Development ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-164
Author(s):  
D. A. T. New

During the first 4 days of incubation the chick blastoderm expands to surround the yolk. Its expansion takes place over the inner surface of the vitelline membrane, and the edge of the blastoderm is firmly attached to this membrane. Little attention has been paid hitherto to the mechanism of this expansion, presumably because it lies outside the embryo proper. But many of the problems involved are of considerable interest, not only as they relate to development within cleidoic eggs, but also in connexion with more general questions affecting expansion of epithelia and the nature of cell surfaces. Blastoderm expansion has many points of similarity with the spreading of epithelia across wounds, and some of the factors involved may prove to be similar to those affecting the radiation of loose sheets of cells in tissue culture.


1995 ◽  
Vol 404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalpana S Katti ◽  
Maoxu Qian ◽  
Mehmet Sarikaya

AbstractIn this work a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique was used in obtaining local dielectric properties calculated from optical parameters for dynamic investigation of the effect of cubic to tetragonal phase transformation in barium titanate. In order to obtain in situ local dielectric during phase transformation, Kramers-Kronig relations were applied using the transmission electron energy loss (EELS) measurements. The optical excitations in the EELS spectra were consistent with the band structure results. The Re (1/ε) (real part of the dielectric function) obtained from the energy loss data indicated a change at the phase transformation. A broadening of the valence plasmon excitation suggested an order-disorder nature to the cubic to tetragonal transformation. In situ electron energy loss near edge structure (ELNES) studies from 500–700 eV energy range near the O-K edge exhibited a pre-edge feature that is associated with the Ti-L1, edge which further indicates an order-disorder nature to the phase transformation. The significance of the results is discussed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 440-441
Author(s):  
D. M. Cao ◽  
J. C. Jiang ◽  
B. Feng ◽  
W. J. Meng

Application of an appropriate ceramic surface coating to mechanical components such as bearings and gears can provide longer life and increased performance reliability. Metal-containing hydrocarbon (Me-C:H) coatings possess high hardness, together with low friction and low wear rate. They have also been suggested to adhere better to metallic substrates. This combination of attractive mechanical/tribological properties makes Me-C:H coatings potentially useful for surface modification of a wide range of mechanical components.Using the technique of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted vapor deposition[1], we have synthesized Ti-containing hydrocarbon (Ti-C:H) coatings with a wide range of Ti compositions[2]. Coating mechanical properties such as modulus and hardness have been measured by the technique of nanoindentation and correlated to Ti and hydrogen compositions[2,3].We have performed detailed microstructural examination of Ti-C:H coatings by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy.


1969 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Bellairs ◽  
A. Boyde ◽  
Joan E. M. Heaysman

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