A morphometric analysis of extracellular space in the developing spinal cord of the chick embryo.

The developmental changes in the amount and distribution of the expanded extracellular space (ECS) (i.e. wider than 100 nm) were analyzed in the cervical spinal cord of chick embryos between stage 9 and 29, using electron micrograph montages, which cover one half of the cross-sectional area of the cord. The percentage of the ECS expansion to the whole cross-sectional area of the cord was 11.0% at stage 9, 7.7% at stage 11, 7.8% at stage 15, and 9.7% at stage 17. It decreased markedly to 3.0% at stage 22 and 1.3% at stage 29. The highest percentage at stage 9 may reflect the dynamic structural changes associated with neural groove closure which takes place around this time. The marked decrease after stage 22 is associated with the rapid overall growth of the cord. Until stage 19, the ECS expansions were mostly elongated and arranged radially with respect to the central canal. The ECS became scarce and arranged randomly thereafter. Throughout the stages examined, especially between stages 17 and 19, percentage was higher in the outer half of the cord than in the inner half. The outer glial limiting membrane was not established by stage 29. Between stages 17 and 22, the percentage was higher in the dorsal region than in the ventral region. This appears to be associated with the regional difference in neuronal maturation. The first blood vessels penetrated the ventromedial portion of the cord around stage 22, where the ECS expansions were relatively scarce. The successive rapid decrease in the amount of ECS expansions can be correlated to the development of vascularization.