Ultrastructural analysis of basal neuroepithelial cells in dysraphic mice

Ultrastructural aspects of the cellular pathology in the basal neuroepithelium of the hindbrain and spinal cord were analyzed in dysraphic loop-tail mice at nine days of gestation. Whereas the basal cytoplasm of the neuroepithelium in normal littermates showed a consistent electron density, the neuroepithelium in abnormal embryos was characterized by "light" and "dark" cells scattered randomly along the basal aspect of the hindbrain and spinal cord. In the abnormals, gaps occurred in the neural basal lamina, and the neuroepithelial cells often were in direct contact with cytoplasmic processes from mesenchymal cells and from notochordal cells; in normal littermates, contact was observed only between the intact and continuous neural basal lamina and mesenchymal cells and notochordal cells. Thus, it is possible that the pathological features observed ultrastructurally in the basal neuroepithelium in dysraphic embryos may represent faulty tissue interaction with adjacent notochordal and mesenchymal cells.