On the development of the sympathetic chain and the adrenal medulla in the mouse

Summary The first visible primordia of the sympathetic chain appear in the anterior thoracic region and run caudally through 8 segments in an embryo of 11 gestation days. At 12 gestation days the trunk reaches from the base of the skull into the sacral region. During the following days the trunk develops into ganglia with interganglionic fibers.At 16 gestation days there is a well developed trunk with a cranial ganglion cervicale superior and a ganglion stellatum in the anterior part of the thoracic region. In the remaining sympathetic chain there are segmentally arranged ganglia but in this common pattern large differences are noticed.At the 13th gestation day the first signs of the adrenal medulla and the splanchnic plexus appear in the form of sympathoblasts ventral to the sympathetic chain. The migration of sympathoblasts into the primordia of the adrenal cortex goes on for 3 days while the migration to the splancnic plexus in the mesenchym ventral and lateral to the aorta goes on at least 2 more days.