Local Application of Bone Morphogenic Protein on Developing Chick Embryos Using Fibrous Glass Matrix

Proper cell-cell interactions are essential for controlling embryonic tissue development. The communications from cell to cell are transmitted through direct cell contact via adhesion molecules or short- and/or long-range signaling by diffusible molecule. The molecular basis for these events is the subject of interest in developmental biology. One of the approaches to elucidate the process of cell-cell signaling by diffusible molecules is the local application of carriers containing the molecule by means of microsurgical operation. One clear example is the study on retinoic acid signaling, which has been shown to play an important role during limb development (1 ,2 ). When retinoic acid is locally applied to the anterior margin of a limb bud, duplication of limb is observed, showing that signaling by retinoic acid regulates A-P pattern formation of the limb bud. Another example is that local implantation with recombinant protein into the embryonic tissue exhibited alteration of skeletal patterning. We showed that implantation of carrier matrix, fibrous glass matrix (FGM), containing BMP protein, into early somitogenesis, perturbed axial skeletal formation, suggesting involvement of BMP signaling in axial skeletogenesis (3 ,4 ).