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If the ectodermal environment provides local cues for PMC patterning, then one hypothesis regarding how nickel works is that it affects the ectoderm. Then if the ectoderm failed to provide the appropriate signals to the PMCs, they would adopt a radialized pattern. If the predominant problem were with the ectoderm, then transplanting PMCs from a radialized embryo into normal ectoderm would be expected to yield a normally patterned skeleton. We can do this sort of experiment by flushing PMCs out of the blastocoel to create an ectodermal "shell" into which we transplant fluorescently labeled PMCs. Go to the next page to see what actually happens... |