Neuronal differentiation in cultures of murine neural crest. II. Development of capsaicin-sensitive neurons

A subset of neurons differentiating in cultures of mammalian neural crest cells express a sensitivity to the excitotoxin, capsaicin. The properties of the capsaicin-sensitive neurons in the neural crest cultures are similar to those reported for authentic sensory neurons. For example, the application of capsaicin results in a large, rapid depolarization of capsaicin-sensitive neurons. Capsaicin-sensitive neurons were also detected by the influx of cobalt ions. The development of capsaicin sensitivity in neural crest cultures was dependent on time in culture and on the presence of NGF. A major difference between the crest-derived capsaicin-sensitive neurons and authentic sensory neurons was the simultaneous expression of immunoreactivity for ChAT/TH/CGRP by the former neurons. These experiments indicate that a specific physiological property of authentic sensory neurons is expressed by neurons differentiating from the neural crest in vitro.