Grafting of additional periphery reduces embryonic loss of neurons

Effects of increased peripheral field of innervation on the magnitude of the spontaneously occurring embryonic cell death in the chick trochlear and isthmo-optic nuclei were examined. Grafting of an additional optic primordium and the surrounding mesoderm (which forms extraocular muscles) was performed at stage 11 (HH stage series). The grafted tissue is innervated by the appropriate neuron pool as revealed by the retrograde axonal flow of HRP. Cell counts of the trochlear nucleus on day 19 indicate a mean increase of 37% (range 19--62%) in the number of cells on the experimental side (contralateral to the graft) as compared to the ipsilateral control nucleus of the same embryos. Cell counts of the isthmo-optic nucleus on day 19 show an average increase of 35% (range 27--41%) on the experimental (contralateral) side over the ipsilateral control side. This increase in cell survival is not due to a stimulatory effect of grafting on cellular proliferation as revealed by the cell counts of trochlear and isthmo-optic nuclei on day 9 and 11 respectively. Thus, the increased cell survival is attributed solely to the reduction in the magnitude of the embryonic cell death. Whether this reduction in embryonic cell death is due to increased number of synaptic sites or increased amounts of trophic substances remains uncertain.