Distribution of glial fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin-immunopositive elements in the developing chicken brain from hatch to adulthood.

The present study describes the distribution of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin-immunopositive structures in the brain of the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus) from hatching to maturity. The telencephalon is penetrated by a vimentin-immunopositive radial fibre system, representing a modified form of radial glia, in day-old chicks. Numerous fibres of this system persist until adulthood, mainly in the lobus parolfactorius, lamina medullaris dorsalis and lamina frontalis superior. GFAP immunoreactivity also appears in the course of development in these fibres. The distribution of GFAP-immunopositive astrocytes in the post-hatch telencephalon is like that found in adult chicken, except for the ectostriatum, in which an adult-like GFAP-immunostaining only develops during week three. This delay may be associated with a relatively slow maturation of this visual centre. In the diencephalon and in the mesencephalic tegmentum of day-old chicks GFAP-immunopositive astrocytes are confined to the border zone of several nuclei. In these areas as well as in the pons most GFAP positive astrocytes only appear gradually during the first two post-hatch weeks, although radial fibres occur only sparsely at hatch. Summarizing these results, a gradual replacement of radial fibres by astrocytes, typical of mammals, cannot be found in chicken. In the nucleus laminaris we observed a characteristic palisade of non-ependymal glia, reactive to GFAP but not to vimentin, which almost completely disappears by adulthood. We suggest that this glial system is instrumental in the development of the dendritic organisation of this nucleus. The optic tectum displays a dense array of GFAP-immunopositive radial glia at hatching, similar in this to the situation found in reptiles. However, in the tectum of reptiles this radial glia persists for the lifetime, whereas in the chick it disappears from the superficial tectal layers. This phenomenon may reflect the fact that there is no replacement of tectal cells or regeneration of retinotectal pathways in the chicken. In the early stage, the large cerebral tracts were found to contain dense accumulations of GFAP-positive cells, with peculiarly long outgrowths accompanying nerve fibres. No vimentin-immunopositivity was found in these glial elements; however vimentin was present in the glia situated at the optic chiasm, the anterior commissure and at other decussations. These structures, as well as the raphe, displayed the most intense vimentin-immunopositivity in the post-hatch chicken. This characteristic glial population may represent glial elements that have been reported to regulate fibre-crossing at the midline.