Effective Cell Immunoablation in Undisrupted Developing Avian Embryos

ABSTRACT In birds the construction of germline chimeras by grafting exogenous primordial germ cells (PGCs) during embryonic development is feasible since they migrate to the gonads through the blood. Up to date, the efficiencies are highly variable, in part dependent on the destruction of endogenous PGCs in the recipient embryo. We show an almost complete ablation of the endogenous PGCs in stage X embryos using a baby rabbit serum (BRS), with previous cellular signaling by specific antibodies (SSEA1). The application of the treatments, either on epiblast or subgerminaly, produced the reduction of the PGCs in the embryos in a dose dependent manner. No malformations or damages were detected in the treated embryos. However, subgerminal injection of this cocktail produced a massive cellular destruction in all embryos. Therefore, sequential application is a selective and effective method to produce receptor embryos. Nevertheless, it can also be highly destructive if the mixture is applied locally, this could be useful in the treatment of malignancies. SUMMARY STATEMENT An immunosurgery procedure is described that yields an almost complete ablation of primordial germ cells in early developing chick embryos, thus increasing the expected rates of chimerism when foreign PGCs are grafted onto these embryos