Patterns of cell movement in early organ primordia of the chick embryo

Purse-string constriction of the cytoskeleton at cell poles is generally accepted as the causal mechanism for invagination during early stages of organ formation. However, it is known that other cell movements, including intercalation, play a role in the organotypic shape changes that occur during gastrulation and neurulation. Such cell movements have not been investigated in pouching and branching epithelial primordia. There is reason to suspect that cells within these organ primordia might exchange their neighbors for others, that is, intercalate or translocate, at sites of sharp folding such as borders with the surrounding epithelial sheet or where a bend occurs within the primordium. The greatest difficulty in identifying these movements has been the need to use intact embryos so that the processes are not distorted. This study explores the possibility of using time-lapse video recording to identify cell movement at these locations. Three organ primordia were tested: otic and thyroid placodes, which had not been tested previously, and neural plate as a control, where movements of this sort have been documented. Embryos or parts containing the primordia were immobilized and cell apices visualized with Hoffman modulation contrast optics. Recordings to an optical memory disc recorder were transferred to a microcomputer for image analysis. The viewing procedure allows reasonably clear visualization of cell apices, and image analysis permits tracking of a number of adjacent cell apices over an extended time period. Several types of movement were found to occur within cell sheets, and the relative abundance of each type depends on the specific primordium. In the neural plate, some cells move many cell diameters from their neighbors. In the other two primordia, most cells show limited shifts in position relative to their neighbors except at regions where folds are formed. In other regions, adjacent cells move as a unit. Knowledge of the movements which occur in any particular primordium is essential to an understanding of the mechanisms controlling its formation.