Dissociated ciliary ganglion neurons in vitro: survival and synapse formation.

Abstract

Normally, about half of the ciliary ganglion neurons in 8 day old chick embryos die before day 14 in ovo. When dissociated ciliary ganglion neurons were prepared from either 8 or 14 day old embryos and grown in cell culture with skeletal myotubes, essentially all of the neurons survived for at least 3 wk. Many of the neurons formed functional synapses on myotubes under these conditions; some neuromuscular synapses could be detected as early as 20 h after addition of the ganglion cells to muscle cultures. Most neurons from 8 day embryos survived for only a few days when grown alone on either polyornithine- or collagen-coated dishes. Neurons destined to die in ovo can apparently be rescued when grown in cell culture with myotubes, and under these conditions the neurons develop and express differentiated properties.