Cell surface properties of amphibian embryonic cells.

Gastrula and neurula embryos of Cynops pyrrhogaster were dissociated into cell suspensions with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), trypsin, and solution. The cells were cultured in Niu-Twitty's balanced salt solution and their aggregates were examined histologically. The results indicated that the capacity of amphibian embryonic cells for aggregate formation, sorting out, and notochord differentiation was not suppressed by EDTA and alkali treatments. Trypsin treatment, however, virtually suppressed the cell's capacity for aggregate formation. When aggregate formation resulted from trypsin-dissociated cells, the aggregates showed the sorting out and no differentiation of notochord.