Pleiotrophin is expressed in avian somites and tendon anlagen

Pleiotrophin (Ptn) is a secreted, developmentally regulated growth factor associated with the extracellular matrix. During mammalian embryogenesis, Ptn has been suggested to play a role in the development of various embryonic structures including nervous system and skeleton. In the avian embryo, Ptn has been proposed to be involved in limb cartilage development, but embryonic Ptn expression has not been comprehensively studied. We isolated a cDNA fragment containing the full-length coding sequence of chick Ptn and studied the expression of Ptn in detail until embryonic day 10. We, furthermore, isolated a 6,385-bp phage clone containing the Ptn cDNA of 2,551 bp and additional 3,787 bp downstream of the published Ptn cDNA sequence classifying a yet Ptn-unrelated chEST clone as the 3' untranslated region of Ptn. Our studies revealed novel expression domains in developing somites and during limb formation. We found prominent expression in the somitocoel cells of epithelial somites, and in a sclerotomal subcompartment, the syndetome, which gives rise to the axial tendons in the vertebral motion segment. In the limbs, Ptn was markedly expressed in tendon anlagen and in phalangeal joints. Our results introduce Ptn as a novel marker gene in avian somite and tendon development.