Early germ cell segregation and distribution in the quail blastodisc.

The distribution and number of primordial germ cells has been analyzed in quail blastodiscs from the incubated state to the 13-somite stage, treated in toto with monoclonal antibody QH1. Some cells were already positive in unincubated blastulas some 18 h earlier than described with other markers in previous studies of avian development. The number of PGCs increased from 2-3 in the unincubated state to more than 100 at the early primitive streak stage. During following stages their numbers did not increase significantly. At first these cells were isolated, thereafter they often assembled in small groups and progressively gathered into Swift's crescent. It is concluded that PGCs begin segregating in birds at the blastula stage and that they multiply until the primitive streak stage.