Kinutani M, Le Douarin N M
Dev Biol. 1985 Sep;111(1):243-55. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(85)90449-x.
Quail-chick spinal cord chimeras were constructed by grafting isotopically, at the brachial level, the neural tube of a quail embryo into a chick of the same developmental stage. The chimeras were allowed to hatch and their behavior and survival after birth were observed. We found that if white Leghorns of the rapid-feathering strain were taken as hosts, the ability of the operated embryos to hatch was higher than in the slow-feathering wild-type chickens. The important point arising from this study is that the establishment of the neuronal circuits and of the connexions of the grafted neurons to their peripheral and central targets occurs between cells of two different species in such a way that normal behavior of the chimera is ensured. These animals can stand, walk, and fly as normal chickens do. Moreover, the size reached by the fragment of quail spinal cord implanted into the chick axial structures is larger than it would have been in the donor at the same age. This results in perfectly normal morphogenesis of the vertebrae which develop from the chick somites at the level of the graft. The pigment pattern of the chick feathers colonized by quail melanoblasts of graft origin is very close to that of the quail, albeit somewhat different, probably due to the different size of the feathers in the two species. Normality of the chimeras is only transient. During the second month of their life they develop a neurological syndrome characterized first by the paralysis of the wings and later by their inability to stand. In strong contrast, spinal cord chimeras constructed between two histoincompatible chickens, remain healthy and seem to develop a complete tolerance to the graft. What seems to be the development of an immune rejection of the grafted neural tube in the quail-chick spinal cord chimeras is now under investigation.
通过在臂部水平将鹌鹑胚胎的神经管同位素移植到处于相同发育阶段的鸡胚中，构建了鹌鹑 - 鸡脊髓嵌合体。让这些嵌合体孵化，并观察它们出生后的行为和存活情况。我们发现，如果以快速换羽品系的白来航鸡作为宿主，手术胚胎的孵化能力比慢速换羽的野生型鸡更高。这项研究得出的重要观点是，神经元回路的建立以及移植神经元与其外周和中枢靶点的连接，在两个不同物种的细胞之间以确保嵌合体正常行为的方式发生。这些动物能够像正常鸡一样站立、行走和飞行。此外，植入鸡轴结构中的鹌鹑脊髓片段达到的大小比其在相同年龄供体中的大小更大。这导致从移植水平的鸡体节发育而来的椎骨形态发生完全正常。由移植来源的鹌鹑成黑素细胞定殖的鸡羽毛的色素模式与鹌鹑的非常接近，尽管有所不同，这可能是由于两个物种羽毛大小不同所致。嵌合体的正常状态只是暂时的。在它们生命的第二个月，它们会出现一种神经综合征，首先表现为翅膀麻痹，随后表现为无法站立。与之形成强烈对比的是，在两只组织不相容的鸡之间构建的脊髓嵌合体保持健康，并且似乎对移植产生了完全的耐受性。目前正在研究鹌鹑 - 鸡脊髓嵌合体中移植神经管免疫排斥反应的发展情况。
