Blastomere ablation and the developmental origin of identified monoamine-containing neurons in the leech

Abstract

Ablation of different identifiable blastomeres of the early embryo of the leech Helobdella triserialis was found to lead to the absence of different sets of segmentally iterated monoamine-containing neurons in subsequent development. Thus the ablation of one of the paired N ectoteloblasts leads to the absence of one member of each of the three bilateral pairs of serotonin-containing neurons (one of which is the Retzius cell) from each segmental ganglion. The ablation of one of the paired OP blastomeres (precursors of the paired O and P ectoteloblasts) leads to the absence of one member of each of the two bilateral pairs of lateral dopamine-containing neurons that lie in the body wall of each segment. And the ablation of one of the paired Q ectoteloblast leads to the absence of one member of the bilateral pair of medial dopamine-containing neurons that lie in the body wall of each segment. These results suggest that each of these sets of monoamine-containing neurons is derived from a particular blastomere. Upon ablation of that blastomere the set does not develop from any other source.