Fig. 1.

Neural crest transplantation. The two-step process of transplanting cranial (A) or trunk (B) neural crest from donor to host embryos. Step 1: Removal of a piece of the dorsal hindbrain at ∼2 dpf (A) or the neural tube above somites 3–5 in 15–20 somite stage embryos (B) and vital staining with DiI. Step 2: Grafting of the Dil labeled explants into similar regions in hosts at the same stage of development (C–H). Bright field (C–G) and fluorescence (D–H) images showing an example of results obtained when cranial transplantation was done at 2 dpf and the distribution of Dil labeled cells was determined at 6 dpf. Lateral views showing the distribution of DiI labeled cells on the right (D) and left (H) sides of the same cavefish host. White arrows: accumulation of DiI labeled cells in and around the eyes. (E, F) Dorsal views showing the graft site at the dorsal midline (asterisks) and bilateral distribution of Dil labeled cells. F-Dil, fluorescent DiI; e, eye. Scale bar: 200 µm.