Contralateral effects of limb amputation in chick embryos.

Amputation of the right leg was performed on 4- and 6-day-old chick embryos to determine whether this produces effects in the contralateral limb, as occurs in the adult. Following sacrifice on the 17th day, it was found that there was a marked fall in muscle, spinal cord and nerve AChE and ChAc activity, particularly when amputation had been carried out to the 4th day. Certain morphological differences were also observed in the contralateral limb: sprouting of sciatic nerve fibres (particularly myelinic fibres), and changes in the muscle contractile apparatus and cytoplasmic particles.