Differentiation of proventricular epithelium in xenoplastic associations with mesenchymal or fibroblastic cells

Summary Proventricular epithelium (PV epithelium) from 6-day chicken embryos was associated with cultured cells, derived from fetal rat small intestine, or with fetal rat or human skin fibroblasts. The cytodifferentiation of PV epithelium was investigated using antibodies to chicken pepsinogen, a marker protein of PV epithelium, and to chicken sucrase, a marker enzyme of the small-intestinal brush-border membrane. PV epithelium formed complex glands and produced pepsinogen in association with cultured gut mesenchymal cells and skin fibroblasts. Its development was comparable to that achieved under the influence of PV mesenchyme. PV epithelial development was severely inhibited, however, under the influence of intact chicken or rat intestinal mesenchyme. The data are consistent with the idea that during the first step of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, the epithelium and not the mesenchyme may be responsible for the determination of the developmental fate.