DEVELOPMENT OF ENDOTHELIA AND ERYTHROID CELLS IN THE MOUSE METANEPHROGENIC MESENCHYME IN CULTURE WITH THE FETAL LIVER

Histogenetic response in vitro of cells of the mouse metanephrogenic mesenchyme to different kinds of tissues was studied by means of transfilter induction technique. When the metanephrogenic mesenchyme obtained from 11-day mouse embryos was cultivated for 7 days in combination with the fetal liver or the primary differentiated hepatoma tissue, cell islets in which cells were arranged in a pavement-like or radial fashion, sinusoid endothelia and erythroid cells were induced in the culture, while in combination with the adult liver, no particular structures were. The number of the cell islets, which were absolutely absent in the initial culture, increased with time of the fetal liver-combined cultivation. When the mesenchyme was cultivated for 7 days in combination with the spinal cord and simultaneously with the fetal liver, new structures which were somewhat different from but faintly reminiscent of tubules and glomeruli were formed. Such structures seemed to be intermediate in appearance between the tubules and the sinusoids, and were formed largely at the expense of normal development of cell islets, sinusoid endothelia, erythroid cells, tubules and glomeruli.