ASYMMETRIC PATTERNS OF GAP JUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPING CHICKEN SKIN

To study the pattern of gap junctional communication in chicken skin a nd feather development, we injected Lucifer Yellow into single cells a nd monitored the transfer of the fluorescent dye through gap junctions . Dye coupling is present between cells of the epithelium as well as b etween cells of the mesoderm. However, dye transfer did not occur equa lly in all directions and showed several consistent patterns and asymm etries, including: (1) no dye coupling between mesoderm and epithelium , (2) partial restriction of dye coupling at the feather bud/interbud boundary during early feather bud development, (3) preferential distri bution of Lucifer Yellow along the anteroposterior axis of the feather placode and (4) absence of dye coupling in some epithelial cells. The se results suggest the presence of preferential pathways of communicat ion that may play a role in the patterning of chicken skin.