BETA-KERATIN EXPRESSION IN AVIAN TONGUE CELL AGGREGATES

Rotation‐mediated aggregation was used to test the capacity of early embryonic tongue cells from different regions of the tongue to reorganize histotypically and terminally differentiate in vitro. Cells dissociated from the anterior ventral (AV) or posterior ventral (PV) surface of the 12 day embryonic tongue were cultured 6 days, fixed, and embedded in paraffin. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy was used to demonstrate the occurrence and distribution of β‐keratins, the presence of which represented regional and differentiation specific markers of late tongue development. Aggregates of AV cells were organized into a β‐keratin‐producing stratified epithelium. Similar PV aggregates formed only an α‐keratin‐producing stratified epithelium. The epithelial cells of these tongue tissue constructs expressed α‐ and β‐keratins in a manner consistent with the temporal and histotypical expression of keratins observed in vivo. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company