ABSTRACT
The temporal program of cell death in the apical ectodermal ridge and mesoderm of rat embryo hindlimbs was documented using supravital staining with Nile blue sulfate. Dye uptake indicative of cell death began postaxially at about 290 h of development and was followed in a few hours by preaxial staining, which became more extensive and intense up to 313 h.
Two agents which cause preaxial polydactyly, cytosine arabinoside and 5-fluorodeoxy-uridine, postponed the onset of preaxial ectodermal cell death while at the same time having the expected cytotoxic effect on limb-bud mesoderm. In addition, a zone of deep preaxial mesodermal necrosis, thought to control the size of digit 1 in normal embryos, was usually absent in cytosine-arabinoside-treated embryos.
The results suggest that the prolonged survival of ectodermal cells effected an increased inductive activity on the underlying mesoderm, leading to the formation of excess digital tissue. The data further suggest that the rate at which mesodermal cells were killed affected the subsequent delay of ectodermal cell death.
