The Neural Crest: Its Properties and Derivatives in the Light of Experimental Research.

Abstract

The neural crest has long been recognized as the source of the spinal and cranial nerve ganglia and has also been implicated in the development of the leptomeninges. It remained, however, for the experimental embryologist to reveal how this early structure is important also for the development of the cranial bones, the teeth and the whole pigmentary system of the body. Hörstadius, who is professor of zoology at the University of Uppsala, reviews the whole subject in a series of special lectures at University of London, and shows how the intricate and exacting methods of excising, rotating, transplanting and interchanging the neural crest at early stages of development can bring about peculiarities in later morphology, and thus reveal the part played by this interesting structure. Vital staining with nile blue sulfate and neural red in alternating bands along the developing neural crest give one picture. Interchanging the neural crests of