The effects of epidermal growth factor on neural crest cells in tissue culture

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulates the release of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG) from quail trunk neural crest cultures in a dose-dependent fashion. It also promotes the expression of cell-associated heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) as detected by immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation of the 3H-labeled proteoglycan. Furthermore, EGF stimulates [3H]thymidine incorporation into total cell DNA. These results raise the possibility that EGF or an analogous growth factor is involved in regulation of neural crest cell morphogenesis.