Fig. 5. (A-D) Graft of a 15 ss quail floor plate (FP') lateral to the caudal neural tube of a 14 ss chick embryo. Serial sections collected 2 days after the operation (E4) show that the size of the neural tube has expanded on the side of the graft. At this stage, Shh (A), HNF3ß (B) and Nkx2.2 (C) are co-expressed in a region that is still CSox1+ (D), close to the graft. (E-H) Graft of a 12 ss quail FP' lateral to the caudal neural tube of a 13 ss chick embryo. Serial sections performed 5 days after the operation (E7) hybridised with Shh (E), HNF3ß (F), Nkx2.2 (G) and CSox1 (H) probes show that a complete floor plate has differentiated with its medial (Shh+, HNF3ß+, Nkx2.2–, CSox1–) and lateral (Shh+, HNF3ß–, Nkx2.2+, CSox1+) components. Grafted MFP plus LFP (FP') generally become circular. A new MFP is induced in the host neural tube close to the MFP part of the graft (HNF3ß+). Arrowheads, MFP limits; arrows, LFP lateral limit.

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