ABSTRACT
The survival of ectodermal explants taken from early to late gastrulae of Xenopus laevis does not appear to be affected by culturing them, for up to 3 days, in solutions containing 50–100 μg./ml. of benzimidazole. This compound does not prevent neural differentiation. Cell damage only becomes apparent after about 48 hours when it is confined to the differentiating neural tissues and the surrounding cells. The histological appearance of the ectoderm cells and the fact that they develop functional cilia suggest that they are not affected by the treatment. The results suggest that tissue in the process of differentiation is highly susceptible to benzimidazole. This susceptibility may be a consequence of the high rate of turnover of RNA in differentiating tissue.
