Internal luminal pressure during early chick embryonic brain growth: descriptive and empirical observations

If the intraluminal pressure of the brain is decreased for 24 hr, the brain and neuroepithelium volumes are both reduced in half. The current study measured the intraluminal pressure throughout the period of rapid brain growth using a servo-null micropressure monitoring system. From 613 measurements made on 55 embryos, we show that the intraluminal pressure over this time period is appropriately described by a linear model with correlation coefficient of 0.752. To assess whether sustained hyperpressure would increase mitosis, elevated intraluminal pressure was induced in 10 embryos for 1-hr duration via a gravity-fed drip. The mitotic density and index of the mesencephalon were measured for the 10 embryos. Those embryos, in which the colchicine solution was added to the intraluminal cerebrospinal fluid creating a sustained hyperpressure, exhibited at least a 2.5-fold increase in both the mitotic density and index compared with control embryos. Based on the small sample size, we cautiously conclude that sustained hyper-intraluminal pressure does stimulate mitosis.