Alterations in lateral lipid mobility in the plasma membrane of urodelean ectodermal cells during gastrulation

The mobility characteristics of lipids were studied in the plasmalemma of dissociated presumptive ectodermal cells from embryos of Pleurodeles Waltl at different stages of development, from early blastula to early neurula, using a Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching technique (FRAP), after incorporation of the lipophilic fluorescent probe 5N-(hexadecanoyl)-aminofluoresceine (HEDAF) into the cell plasma membrane. At all stages of development, fluorescence recovery was found to extrapolate to 100%, which suggested that the lipid phase in these plasma membranes can be regarded as dynamically homogeneous (no immobilized fraction). It appears as a continuum over a wide cell surface area, in which lipids are free to move laterally. The lateral diffusion coefficient of the probe, obtained from statistical analysis of the fluorescence recovery data, was found to decrease significantly from blastula to gastrula, slightly increasing at the neurula stage. These changes in the dynamic properties of the lipid probe HEDAF during gastrulation suggest that the lipid phase of the plasma membrane of these ectodermal cells undergo structural changes. The results lend support to the idea that the plasma membrane of these cells is actively involved in the morphogenetic movements which characterize the development of the embryo.