Quantitative Analysis of Directional Neural Crest Cell Migration.

The neural crest is a highly migratory cell population that evolved in vertebrates. Born at the lateral borders of the neural plate, neural crest cells migrate long distances along defined paths and contribute to the development of many tissue and structures. Neural crest has become an important model for studying directional cell migration. Frog Xenopus laevis is particularly feasible in these studies. Both in vivo and in vitro analyses are performed to study frog neural crest cell migration. While in vivo analysis can provide direct knowledge of how neural crest cells interact with neighboring tissues during their migration, in vitro analysis can produce high-resolution results on cell morphological changes and cell motility. Here we provide a detailed protocol for performing quantitative analysis of Xenopus laevis neural crest cell migration in vitro.