Morphogenesis of adrenergic cells in a frog parasympathetic ganglion

The development of the parasympathetic cardiac ganglion of the frog Xenopus laevis was marked by the differentiation of a population of adrenergic small intensely fluorescent (SIF) cells. The neural crest contributes precursors for both SIF cells and the well-studied cholinergic cardiac ganglion neurons; this situation provided an opportunity to determine whether morphogenesis of the two cell types was correlated. Accordingly, we examined the initial differentiation, developmental regulation, and territorial domain of cardiac SIF cells for comparison with their cholinergic neuron neighbors. Adrenergic SIF cells were present during the time when the first cholinergic precursors were becoming postmitotic. Although SIF cells were present first, cholinergic neurons differentiated almost 16 times faster during the first week of embryonic and larval development and outnumbered SIF cells at all subsequent stages. Nonetheless, the accumulation of both cell types were correlated, since the ratio of cholinergic neurons to SIF cells remained at approximately 10 to 1 up to adult life. Early in development, SIF cells and cholinergic neurons were clustered in the sinus venosus portion of the atrium. The asymmetric distribution of cholinergic neurons within the atrium was lost but that of the SIF cells was maintained throughout life. These results identify relationships between the morphogenesis of two cell types in an autonomic ganglion and place constraints upon the cellular mechanisms that could produce the cells from their neural crest precursors.