Immunohistochemistry of laminin in early chicken and quail blastoderms

Summary We have used immunohistochemical techniques to study laminin in quail blastoderms milked from the oviduct and the distribution of laminin in laid chicken and quail blastoderms. Laminin is a constituent of the basement membrane in both chicken and quail blastoderms. It is found at the ventral side of the upper layer cells. Laminin is first observed under individual upper layer cells in prelaid quail blastoderms 15 h post-ovulation, but is absent at the ingression site of endophyll cells. The presence of a continuous laminin layer coincides with the epithelialization of the epiblast after 5–10 h incubation. The laminin layer is discontinuous at the primitive streak and at Hensen's node. It is thinner and partly discontinuous at the median part of the neural plate. By induction, either of an ectopic primitive streak or a neural plate, we have demonstrated, using the chicken-quail nucleolar marker technique, that at these sites the laminin layer is interrupted. A laminin layer might confer rigidity onto the epiblast, whereas disruption of a laminin layer seems to be correlated with ingression of cells or bending of the neural plate.