RESUMO
Catecholamines (CA) were localized in stage 11-34 domestic fowl embryos by the formaldehyde-induced fluorescence (FIF) method after exposure in vivo or in vitro to CA (noradrenaline or α-methylnoradrenaline), or the CA precursorl-DOPA. The effects of drugs known to alter CA metabolism in the adult were also investigated.Negligible FIF was observed in embryos which had not been exposed to CA. After CA loading, FIF could be seen in the neural tube and in non-neural tissues such as the notochord and gut mesenchyme and to a lesser degree in suprarenal area tissue, liver endothelium, sclerotome, and myotome. This FIF was inhibited by desmethylimipramine, a blocker of adult neuronal CA uptake (Uptake1), but not by corticosterone, a blocker of adult extraneuronal CA uptake (Uptake2). The notochord, dorsal pancreas and some blood cells were fluorescent afterl-DOPA loading, and this FIF could be greatly diminished by the DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor RO4-4602.The pattern of FIF in the axial structures (neural tube and notochord) correlated with axial flexure in both position and time, and the intensity of fluorescence was strongest cranially and caudally, where flexure is most pronounced. The FIF in gut mesenchyme cells was closely related to the movement of the intestinal protals during early gut tube formation, and to the regions of the developing intestine that undergo intense morphogenesis during their early formation.