Summary
The development of the sensitivity of embryonicXenopus skin to tactile stimulation has been re-examined. Two types of sensitivity were found. There is an overall sensitivity to stronger stimuli such as pokes, pinches or pin pricks from the time that the embryo first responds to stimulation. This sensitivity depends on the excitability of the skin rather than on precocious innervation. A second type of sensitivity appears a little later in development, over the myotomes near the neck. This sensitivity is to light touch, and gradually spreads to include most of the body surface by the time of hatching (Pig. 5). Evidence from the way this sensitivity develops and lesion experiments to the neural crest, suggest that the light touch sensitivity inXenopus depends on innervation of the skin by Rohon-Beard neurones of the spinal cord. The two types of sensitivity described help to resolve apparently conflicting results from previous studies.
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This work was partly supported by grant G970/286/B from the Medical Research Council.
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Roberts, A., Smyth, D. The development of a dual touch sensory system in embryos of the amphibianXenopus laevis . J. Comp. Physiol. 88, 31–42 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00695921
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00695921