Hodor Paul G, Ettensohn Charles A
Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2008;475:315-34. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-250-2_18.
Mesenchymal cells of the sea urchin embryo provide a valuable experimental model for the analysis of cell-cell fusion in vivo. The unsurpassed optical transparency of the sea urchin embryo facilitates analysis of cell fusion in vivo using fluorescent markers and time-lapse three-dimensional imaging. Two populations of mesodermal cells engage in homotypic cell-cell fusion during gastrulation: primary mesenchyme cells and blastocoelar cells. In this chapter, we describe methods for studying the dynamics of cell fusion in living embryos. These methods have been used to analyze the fusion of primary mesenchyme cells and are also applicable to blastocoelar cell fusion. Although the molecular basis of cell fusion in the sea urchin has not been investigated, tools have recently become available that highlight the potential of this experimental model for integrating dynamic morphogenetic behaviors with underlying molecular mechanisms.
海胆胚胎的间充质细胞为体内细胞-细胞融合分析提供了一个有价值的实验模型。海胆胚胎无与伦比的光学透明度有助于使用荧光标记和延时三维成像在体内分析细胞融合。在原肠胚形成过程中，有两类中胚层细胞参与同型细胞-细胞融合：初级间充质细胞和囊胚腔细胞。在本章中，我们描述了研究活胚胎中细胞融合动态的方法。这些方法已被用于分析初级间充质细胞的融合，也适用于囊胚腔细胞融合。尽管尚未研究海胆细胞融合的分子基础，但最近已有工具可用于凸显该实验模型在将动态形态发生行为与潜在分子机制相结合方面的潜力。
