Cell adhesiveness and embryonic differentiation.

The aim of the investigation was to decide whether changes in cell to cell adhesiveness took place during embryonic differentiation. The technique of Curtis (1969) was used to measure the adhesive behaviour of several types of ectodermal, neural and mesodermal cells of the chick embryo at stages 7 and 12 of differentiation. Cells dissected from segmented mesoderm were found to be more adhesive than cells from unsegmented mesoderm. Cells from the ectoderm were more adhesive than those from the neural tissue, at both stages 7 and 12. Cells from both ectoderm and neural tissue became more adhesive between stages 7 and 12. It is concluded that an increase in adhesiveness may play a role in somite segmentation, but not in neural tube formation.