TL;DR: To ascertain the embryonic origins of the cells in various tissues of the leech Helobdella triserialis, horseradish peroxidase was injected as a cell lineage tracer into all identified blastomeres of the early embryo, and the resulting distribution of HRP-labeled cells was examined in the late embryo.
TL;DR: It is proposed that the differential choice of pathway by the o and p blast cells depends upon their relative position with respect to each other and to a polarity cue external to the germinal band.
TL;DR: Combined injection of rhodamine-D-peptide and pronase demonstrated the arrest of stem cell production in the pronase-injected teloblast, showing a stereotypic cleavage pattern of stem cells and their progeny.
Abstract: Cell lineages during development of the leech are revealed by injection of a fluorescent peptide, rhodamine-D-peptide, into identified embryonic cells. Use of this peptide together with a nuclear stain showed a stereotypic cleavage pattern of stem cells and their progeny. Combined injection of rhodamine-D-peptide and pronase demonstrated the arrest of stem cell production in the pronase-injected teloblast.
TL;DR: The embryonic development of the leech Theromyzon rude was studied under the dissecting microscope both live and after acid treatment that solubilizes the yolk, or vitelloplasm, and renders the embryos transparent.
TL;DR: Two types of ablation experiments have shown that, in the absence of generative P teloblast progeny, those cells which would normally generate the O pattern take on a new fate and give rise to the P pattern in the nervous system, both at the gross pattern level in the segmental ganglia, and at the level of identified neurons in the peripheral nervous system.