---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 15:15:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lionel Jaffe <ljaffe at mbl.edu>
Background: This is an effort to better understand the remarkable
surface contraction wave seen to accompany primary neural induction in
axolotls by Brodland, Gordon et al as reported in the Journal of Morphology
a few years ago. In some anurans - particularly in Xenopus laevis through
the work of Ray Keller* and others - there is a consensus that most of
neural induction occurs via a so-called planar process which proceeds
within and along the ectoderm. In Rana, however, there is strong evidence
- through the work of Igor Dawid* & others - that most of it occurs by a
vertical process that proceeds from the underlying mesoderm out into the
ectoderm.
Question: What if anything is known about this issue (of planar
versus vertical induction) in the axolotl or other urodeles?
Motive: To help me write a review for BioEssays on the roles of
calcium in organizing development...This in turn IS motivated by curiousity
but ALSO out of a wish to revive interest and funding in the physiology and
biophysics of development....As part of that same effort, I organized the
first Gordon Conference on Developmental Physiology which was held this
last August 2-7, 1998....The response - including NIH funding - was so
enthusiastic as to encourage the notion that the tide is beginning to turn
back towards more holistic and biophysical concerns...
Cheers,
Lionel Jaffe
E-Mail: LJaffe at MBL.edu
*Who fuse molecular and holistic approaches.
