Differential participation of ventral and dorsolateral mesoderms in the hemopoiesis of Xenopus, as revealed in diploid-triploid or interspecific chimeras.

The thymocytes in the early larvae of Xenopus laevis have been shown to be derived from precursor cells immigrating interstitially through the mesenchyme into the organ rudiments at 3-4 days of age (Nieuwkoop and Faber stages 42-45). Orthotopic grafting of diploid tissues onto triploid stage 22 embryos followed by ploidy analyses of their hemopoietic cells revealed that both thymocytes and erythrocytes in early larvae are derived from the ventral blood islands (VBI), whereas those in late larvae and adults come mainly from the dorsolateral plate (DLP). To study how the VBI cells of embryos at stage 22 participate in hemopoiesis, a number of interspecific chimeras were produced in X. laevis and X. borealis embryos. Sections of the chimeras at various developmental stages were examined by employing the unique stainability of X. borealis nuclei to quinacrine as a marker; the results show that the VBI-derived cells enter into the circulation around stage 35/36, and that some of them leave the blood vessels to migrate interstitially through the mesenchyme toward the thymic rudiment during stages 43-45. A minor population of the VBI-derived cells was also found extravascularly in the mesonephric primordia. In contrast to the VBI, the DLP-derived cells contributed to the hemopoietic cell population not in early larvae, but in late ones as a major constituent in the mesonephros, thymus, liver, and peripheral blood.