Tracking morphological complexities of organ development in culture

Publication date: Available online 29 July 2018Source: Mechanisms of DevelopmentAuthor(s): Natalia Sánchez, Verónica Inostroza, María Cristina Pérez, Paulina Moya, Angélica Ubilla, Jovita Besa, Emanuel Llaguno, Claudio Vera P-G, Oscar Inzunza, Marcia GaeteAbstractOrganogenesis is one of the most striking process during development. During this period, organ primordia pass throughout several stages in which the level of organisation increases in complexity to achieve the final organ architecture. Organ culture, a method in which an isolated organ is explanted and maintained ex-vivo, is an excellent tool for following the morphological dynamics during development. While most of the work has been made in early stages of development, culturing organs in mid-late stages is needed to understand the achievement of the final organ anatomy in the new-born. Here, we investigated the possibility of following morphological changes of the mice heart, lung, kidney and intestine using a filter-grid culture method for 7 days starting at E14.5. We observed that the anatomy, histology and survival of the cultured organs were indicative of a continuity of the developmental processes: they survived and morphodifferentiated during 5–7 days in culture. The exception was the heart, which started to die after 4 days. Using a second approach, we demonstrated that heart tissue can be easily cultured in body slices, together with other tissues such as the lung, with a healthier differentia...
Source: Mechanisms of Development - Category: Biology Source Type: research