Cranial neural crest cells exhibit directed migration on the pronephric duct pathway: further evidence for an in vivo adhesion gradient.

Previous studies on the elongation of the Ambystoma pronephric duct provided evidence that this morphogenetic movement is adhesion directed. Through the use of a simple and rapid grafting technique that enables genetically marked donor and host cells to be distinguished in transplantation experiments, we demonstrate that cranial neural crest cells, which normally migrate concurrently with, but at a distance from, pronephric duct cells, are able to follow the pronephric duct guidance information. Utilizing neural crest cells as probes for adhesive properties of the lateral plate mesoderm, we extend our previous model of the formal properties of the pronephric duct guidance information. We propose that cells of the cranial neural crest, the pronephric duct primordium and the lateral plate mesoderm all exhibit molecular components of at least one shared cell adhesion system.