Morphological diversity of dying cells during regression of the human tail

During normal human development a number of transient structures form and s ubsequently regress completely. One of the most prominent structures that r egress during development is the human tail. We report here a histological and ultrastructural study of cell death in the cranial and caudal (tail) pa rts of the neural tube in 4 to 6-week-old human embryos. Initially, the hum an tail is composed of tail bud mesenchyme which differentiates into caudal somites, secondary neural tube, notochord and tail gut. Later on, these st ructures gradually regress by cell death. During the investigated period, w e observed two morphologically distinct types of dying cells. The well-desc ribed apoptotic type of cell death was observed only in the cranial neural tube that forms during primary neurulation. The other type of cell death ch aracterized by necrotic morphology was observed in the tail mesenchyme and in the caudal neural tube that forms during secondary neurulation. This mor phological diversity suggests that besides differences in origin and fate t here are different mechanisms of developmental cell death between two parts of the human neural tube. We can speculate that the apoptotic type of cell death is associated with the precise control of cell numbers and that the other morphologically distinct type of cell death is responsible for the ma ssive removal of transitory structures.