Chicken trunk neural crest migration visualized with HNK1

The development of the nervous system involves cells remaining within the neural tube (CNS) and a group of cells that delaminate from the dorsal neural tube and migrate extensively throughout the developing embryo called neural crest cells (NCC). These cells are a mesenchymal highly migratory group of cells that give rise to a wide variety of cell derivatives: melanocytes, sensory neurons, bone, Schwann cells, etc. But not all NCC can give rise to all derivatives, they have fate restrictions based on their axial level of origin: cranial, vagal, trunk and sacral. Our aim was to provide a thorough presentation on how does trunk neural crest cell migration looks in the chicken embryo, in wholemount and in sections using the unique chicken marker HNK1. The description presented here makes a good guideline for those interested in viewing trunk NCC migration patterns. We show how before HH14 there are few trunk NCC delaminating and migrating, but between HH15 through HH19 trunk NCC delaminate in large numbers. Melanocytes precursors begin to enter the dorsolateral pathway by HH17. We found that by HH20 HNK1 is not a valid good marker for NCC and that HNK1 is a better marker than Sox10 when looking at neural crest cells morphology and migration details.