Coaggregation and formation of a joint myocardial tissue by embryonic mammalian and avian heart cells.

Intercellular adhesion and tissue reconstruction from homologous dissociated embryonic cells from two species were studied. Dissociated 12-day-old embryonic rat heart cells and 50-h-old embryonic chick heart cells were labeled with tritiated thymidine and allowed to aggregate in Erlenmeyer flasks during rotation culture on a gyratory water-bath shaker. The cultures were continued for 72 h. Cell aggregates were examined microscopically for evidence of contractility and subsequently processed at intervals between 1 and 72 h for transmission electron microscopic autoradiography. Rat and chick hearts used in this study appeared comparable in their stage of development and cellular composition. With the exception of mature blood cells and some fibroblastic non-muscle cells, all chick cardiac muscle cells were labeled with tritiated thymidine. As the cultures continued, aggregates increased in size by continuous accretion of cells and joining of small clusters. The cells within these mixed aggregates exhibited synchronous contractility from 1 h until the cultures were terminated. Most of the aggregation in both control and mixed aggregates was completed within 24 h. Control aggregates consisted of cells from a single species, either chick or rat. Approximately 18% of labeled chick cardiac muscle cells established intercellular contacts and junctions with unlabeled rat cardiac muscle cells after 6 h of culture. This increased to 72% after 72 h in culture. The junctions observed between chick and rat cardiac muscle cells were desmosomes and hemidesmosomes. Approximately 13% of the cardiac muscle cells of one species either chick or rat were found scattered within clusters which contained 15% of the cells from the other species after 72 h of culture. These scattered cells did not form junctions with monospecific cell groups. The implications of these intercellular adhesions between the same and different species are discussed, bearing two hypothesis in mind: (1) Moscona and collaborators, (2) Burdick and Steinberg. This study suggests that cellular as well as species identity plays an important role in the determination of intercellular adhesion among the embryonic cells from different species.