Expression of TGF beta 1/beta 3 during early chick embryo development.

We have used an antibody against a TGF beta peptide fragment to localize this growth factor in the early chick embryo from laying to the ten-somite stage of development. Western blotting showed that the antibody reacted with both mammalian TGF beta 1 and chicken TGF beta 3. By immunocytochemistry we find that at the earliest developmental stage (stage X of Eyal-Giladi and Kochav) immunoreactivity to this antibody is primarily located in the cells of the area opaca and marginal zone, as well as in the most peripheral edge cells of the blastoderm. The yolk is non-reactive, except in a highly localized region subjacent to the edge cells. This pattern persists at stage XII, and at both stages individual isolated cells in the epiblast and hypoblast are also reactive. By the time of gastrulation, reactivity in the epiblast is polarized to the ventral extremity of the cells, and again some isolated cells in this layer are intensely immunoreactive. At this stage also, the endoderm cells, particularly those underlying the primitive streak, are positive, as are the mesoderm cells lateral to the streak. At somite stages, the neuroepithelium is not reactive but the ectoderm lateral to it is strongly positive. At the caudal primitive streak levels of early somite embryos, the ectoderm and endoderm are immunoreactive while the mesoderm loses the reactivity it showed at the early gastrulation stages. The neuroepithelial cells later show reactivity at their apical poles, and, as at the earlier stages, individual cells show intense labelling. These results indicate that TGF beta 1 and/or TGF beta 3 immunoreactivity is developmentally regulated from very early stages of morphogenesis in the chick, and together with data from earlier functional studies, suggest that this factor has roles in embryonic axis formation and in blastoderm expansion.