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APPEARANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITY IN THE DEVELOPING NERVOUS TISSUES IN RAT EMBRYOS

English (英語)

The Kobe journal of the medical sciences

34(6)

249-261

1988-12

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the develping nervous tissues in rat embryos were histochemically investigated. Light microscopically in the 10.5- and 11.5-day-old embryos, AChE activity appeared to be negative in any embryonic tissue. In the 12.5-day-old embryo, a few cells in the mantle layer of the neural tube (NT), spinal ganglia (SPG) and sympathetic ganglia (SMG) displayed weak to moderate AChE activity. In the 13.5- and 14.5-day-old embryos, moderate to intense AChE activity was demonstrated in the mantle layer and posterior funiculus in the NT, SPG and SMG and in the spinal nerves. Electron microscopically, in the 11.5-day-old embryo, AChE activity was first discernible in some NT cells, and thereafter, the cells exhibiting AChE activity rapidly increased in the NT, SPG and SMG. Reaction products for AChE were well localized in the cisterns of the nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum of the related cells. These findings strongly suggest a close relationship between the increase of AChE activity in the developing nervous tissues and the formation of a functional network among them. We speculate·that AChE may be involved in regulation of cell to cell contacts, including the formation of synaptic contacts in the developing nervous tissues.

rat embryos

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