Dedifferentiation of gland cells in hydra and further development of interstitial cells arising from them.

Asexual, non-budding hydras were treated in the 1∶75000 solution of E 39 solubile (Bayer). They were feeding, growing and budding for six days. The interstitial cells found in the ectoderm at the moment of treatment differentiated into cnidoblasts during that period. The cells that happened to be in the gastroderm at that time, differentiated into interstitial cells which were not able to cross the mesoglea due to the E 39 activity. In the gastroderm a great number of cnids appeared.These observations support the hypothesis that in normal hydra the interstitial cells formed by the dedifferentiation of gland cells pass into the ectoderm. There they are transformed into cnidoblasts which pass into the mesoglea. Prom the gastroderm the cnidoblasts come into the ectoderm of the tentacles through endodermal cells and the coelenteric fluid.