Melanogenesis in cultures of peripheral nervous tissue: I. The origin and prospective fate of cells giving rise to melanocytes

Chick embryo spinal ganglia, peripheral nerves, and connective tissue usually associated with ganglia were cultured separately using several combinations of media and substrata. Melanocytes appear in cultures of both ganglia and peripheral nerves. The only cell type common to both the ganglion and peripheral nerve that could account for the observed pigment cells was the population of small cells with intensely staining nuclei that normally associates closely with nerve cell bodies and fibers. These cells could be distinguished morphologically from fibroblastic cells, which originated in the connective tissue capsule and did not undergo melanogenesis. We conclude that these small cells are supportive (Schwann, satellite, and perineurial) cell precursors and are one source of melanocytes in cultured peripheral nervous tissue.