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Tracking and ablating subpopulations of epiblast cells in the chick embryo

Biological Procedures Online volume 10, pages 74–82 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The early chick embryo contains subpopulations of cells that express lineage-specific transcription factors. We have developed protocols to examine the role of these cells during development that involve labeling them for cell tracking purposes and ablating them within the epiblast. The procedures take advantage of the fact that subpopulations of epiblast cells differentially express cell surface antigens recognized by monoclonal antibodies. Embryos are removed from the shell and incubated on the yolk with an antibody. Cells that bind the antibody are either tagged with a fluorescent secondary antibody or lysed with complement. For long-term analyses, embryos are returned to a host shell and placed in an incubator. This method of whole embryo manipulation ex-ovo and incubation in-ovo supports normal development into the fetal period.

Abbreviations

Mab:

Monoclonal antibody

PBS:

Phosphate buffered saline

BSA:

Bovine serum albumen

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, 100 Lancaster Avenue, 19096, Wynnewood, PA

    Jacquelyn Gerhart, Christine Neely, Jessica Pfautz & Mindy George-Weinstein

Authors
  1. Jacquelyn Gerhart
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  2. Christine Neely
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  3. Jessica Pfautz
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  4. Mindy George-Weinstein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacquelyn Gerhart.

Additional information

In memory of Dr. Judah Folkman

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Gerhart, J., Neely, C., Pfautz, J. et al. Tracking and ablating subpopulations of epiblast cells in the chick embryo . Biol. Proced. Online 10, 74–82 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1251/bpo145

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1251/bpo145

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Biological Procedures Online

ISSN: 1480-9222

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