Dual contribution of embryonic ventral blood island and dorsal lateral plate mesoderm during ontogeny of hemopoietic cells in Xenopus laevis.

The early embryonic development of hemopoietic cells in Xenopus laevis was examined. Either dorsal lateral plate (DLP) or ventral blood island (VBI) mesoderm was reciprocally transplanted between cytogenetically distinct (2N or 3N) stage 14 to 19 (neural fold) embryos. F-DNA content of circulating erythrocytes was assayed at stages 40, 41, 43, 45, and 49. The F-DNA content of cells in the thymus and mesonephros was assayed at stage 49. F-DNA values were used to distinguish between donor or host origin of hemopoietic cells in individual animals. The results demonstrated that DLP mesoderm gave rise to a population of stem cells that colonized the thymus and mesonephros, but not the blood. VBI mesoderm gave rise to a population of stem cells that colonized the blood and thymus, but not the mesonephros. These experiments show that there are two stem cell compartments in the amphibian embryo, separated in both space and time.