Talk:Hamburger Hamilton Stages

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Dev Dyn. 1992

The stage series of the chick embryo. Hamburger V. Dev Dyn. 1992 Dec;195(4):273-5. No abstract available. PMID: 1304822 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Free Article Related citations 10.

A series of normal stages in the development of the chick embryo. 1951. Hamburger V, Hamilton HL. Dev Dyn. 1992 Dec;195(4):231-72. No abstract available. PMID: 1304821 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Free Article Related citations

Original front page

Cell death in the development of the lateral motor column of the chick embryo.

J Comp Neurol. 1975 Apr 15;160(4):535-46. Hamburger V.

Abstract Cell counts were made in the lumbar lateral motor column (l.m.c.) of chick embryos of 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 18 days of incubation and five days posthatching (n equal 68). Only nuclei with nucleoli were counted and corrections were made for double counting (Abercrombie, '46). The population attains a peak value of over 20,000 cells (corrected figure: over 17,000) at 5.5-6.5 days equal stages 28 and 29 (Hamburger and Hamilton, '51). The l.m.c. loses between 7,000 and 8,000 cells between days 6.5 and 9.5, (between stages 29 and 36). In other words, 60% of the population survive. A plateau of approximately 12,300 cells (corrected figure: 10,300) is maintained through five days posthatching. Massive cell degeneration was observed in 7- and 8-day embryos. Counts of distinctly pyknotic cells indicate that at least 5-6% of the total population is in the process of degeneration at any particular time. This figure is probably an underestimation; hence it is virtually certain that the depletion of the l.m.c. is due entirely to cell death. Arguments are preue to the failure of their axons to survive in a competition process at the periphery. Observations of the time pattern of muscle differentiation and their neurotization in the leg further endorse this hypothesis. However, it is not clear whether the axons compete for contact sites on muscle fibers or for a "trophic" agent.

PMID: 1123466

Developmental stages of the Japanese quail.

J Anat. 2010 Jan;216(1):3-15. Epub 2009 Nov 19. Ainsworth SJ, Stanley RL, Evans DJ.

Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK. Abstract Developmental biology research has used various avian species as model organisms for studying morphogenesis, with the chick embryo being used by the majority of groups. The focus on the chick embryo led Hamburger and Hamilton to develop their definitive staging series nearly 60 years ago and this series is still the mainstay of all laboratories working with avian embryos. The focus on the chick embryo has somewhat overshadowed the importance of another avian embryo that has proved to be equally powerful, the Japanese quail. Since the late 1960s, chimeras have been produced using chick and quail embryos and this technique has revolutionized the approach taken to the investigation of the cellular and molecular interactions that occur during development. Reviews of the literature demonstrate that many research groups are using the quail embryo in a number of established and new ways, and this species has become a primary animal model in developmental biology. Some staging of quail has been performed but this has been incomplete and variations in descriptions, stages and incubation timings mean that comparisons with the chick are not always easily made. There appears to be general agreement that, at the early stages of embryogenesis, there is little developmental difference between chick and quail embryos, although the basis for this has not been established experimentally. The accelerated ontogeny of quail embryos at mid to late stages of development means that registration with the chick is lost. We have therefore developed a definitive developmental stage series for Japanese quail so that differences are fully characterized, misconceptions or assumptions are avoided, and the results of comparative studies are not distorted.

PMID: 19929907

High frequency ultrasound imaging of the growth and development of the normal chick embryo.

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2007 May;33(5):751-61. Epub 2007 Mar 26. Schellpfeffer MA, Bolender DL, Kolesari GL.

Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. maschellpfeffer@gmail.com Abstract The purpose of this study is to delineate with high frequency ultrasound imaging the normal growth and development of the chick embryo throughout its incubation period. White Leghorn chick embryos were imaged through an opening in the egg air cell from incubation day 0-19 (Hamburger & Hamilton stage 1-45) using a 13 MHz clinical high frequency linear small parts transducer. Multiple anatomic growth parameters were measured. Normal growth was confirmed with Hamburger and Hamilton staging. A timeline was constructed showing when each anatomic growth parameter could be visualized. Means and standard deviations of each parameter were plotted against incubation days studied to create nomograms and numerical tables of normal growth and development of the chick embryo. With this set of data, abnormal growth and development of the chick embryo can now be assessed.

PMID: 17383805


Staging of intestinal development in the chick embryo.

Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2006 Aug;288(8):909-20. Southwell BR.

Gut Motility Laboratory, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Victoria, Australia. bridget.southwell@mcri.edu.au Abstract Comparisons between developmental studies rely on embryonic staging systems. It is important for comparison of molecular, immunohistochemical, and physiological studies of the developing chick intestine that the developmental stage of embryos is reliably determined. Good staging systems exist for the external features of the chick embryo but not for development of internal organs. To facilitate precise comparisons of chick embryo intestine development, we prepared an intestinal staging system. Embryos were fixed, other tissues dissected away, and the intestine and associated organs were then drawn to scale using a camera lucida. This produced black-and-white drawings with features of the gut clearly visible. The detailed drawings of intestine from chick embryos aged 2.5 to 10 days were correlated with age of embryos and developmental stages described in three common staging systems, Hamilton and Hamburger, Thompson and Fitzharris, and Allan and Newgreen. Descriptions of key changes in gut morphology and position are given for each stage. This staging of chick gut development will allow future studies to quote and compare development of the gut rather than external features or incubation time. This will allow much more precise reporting and comparisons in developmental studies of cell migration and gene expression.

PMID: 16835928

Origin and development of the pronephros in the chick embryo.

J Anat. 2003 Dec;203(6):539-52. Hiruma T, Nakamura H.

Department of Anatomy, Saitama Medical School, Iruma-gun, Japan. hiruma@saitama-med.ac.jp Abstract The process by which the pronephros develops was morphologically examined in chick embryos from Hamburger-Hamilton stage (ST) 8+ to ST34. The intermediate mesoderm, from which the pronephros arises, was first seen as a faint ridge of undifferentiated mesoderm between the segmental plate and lateral plate at ST8+. It formed a cell cord at the level of the 6th to the presumptive 13th somites at ST9 to ST10. This cell cord then separated into dorsal and ventral parts, the former becoming the nephric duct and the latter the tubules by ST14. The primordia of the external glomeruli (PEGs) appeared at ST15 through some epithelial cells protruding in the nephrostome (the opening of the nephric tubule into the body cavity). PEGs formed gradually in the caudal direction until ST18, while the pronephric tubules and PEGs in cranial locations disappeared. At this stage, only a few PEGs remained at the level of the 13th and 14th somites and these developed from ST23 to ST29 to become ultrastructurally similar to the glomeruli of the functional kidney. From these observations in the avian pronephros, we infer that the pronephric duct and tubules both form from a cell cord in the intermediate mesoderm and at the same time, but later develop differently.

PMID: 14686690

Neural differentiation of caudal cell mass (secondary neurulation) in chick embryos: Hamburger and Hamilton Stages 16-45.

Brain Res Dev Brain Res. 2003 Apr 14;142(1):31-6. Yang HJ, Wang KC, Chi JG, Lee MS, Lee YJ, Kim SK, Cho BK.

Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, South Korea. Abstract In an attempt to understand the events in the secondary neurulation in embryonic stage, we investigated morphological changes in the tail bud of normal developing chick embryos. Hamburger and Hamilton stage 16-45 embryos were harvested and processed for light microscopic studies. The secondary neural tube is formed by aggregation of the caudal cell mass. Cells are arranged into a cord-like mass (medullary cord), which is continuous with the primary neural tube. Multiple small cavities develop in the medullary cord, and these cavities coalesce into one single lumen. The process of coalescence is completed by stage 35, and the whole neural tube is transformed into one tube with a single continuous lumen. At this stage, the terminal portion of the neural tube is bulged dorsally. Thereafter, the caudal portion of the neural tube regresses, and the proximal portion develops into normal spinal cord. Transient occlusion of the central canal was observed at stage 40 in one sample. The sequence of events elucidated in this study can be used as base-line data for experiments concerning congenital malformations involving secondary neurulation.

PMID: 12694942

Embryonic development of the pituitary gland in the chick.

Cells Tissues Organs. 2003;173(2):65-74. Sasaki F, Doshita A, Matsumoto Y, Kuwahara S, Tsukamoto Y, Ogawa K.

Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Graduate School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Japan. sasaki@vet.osakafu-u.ac.jp Abstract Pituitary glands of chicken, from stages 20 (70 approximately 72 h of incubation) to 46 (20 days) of Hamburger and Hamilton (1951), were studied by immunocytochemical and histological stainings and India ink injection into blood vessels. Using the distribution pattern of 6 types of immunoreactive adenohypophyseal cells and the location of pituitary stalk as guideposts, we found how specific areas in the epithelium of Rathke's pouch differentiate into specific regions of the adenohypophysis at 20 days. In the sagittal plane, the walls of Rathke's pouch were tentatively divided into the upper part (A(1) + A(2)) and lower part (A(3)) of the anterior wall, and the posterior wall (P(1) + P(2) + P(3)). The cephalic lobe was mainly assembled by the proliferation of parenchymal cells in the areas A(2) + A(3) + P(2) of Rathke's pouch epithelia at 3 days of incubation. The caudal lobe was derived from A(1) + P(1) + P(3). The pars tuberalis was derived from A(1) + A(2). Thus, the avian adenohypophysis is established at 13 days, though the blood supply to the pars distalis is established at 20 days. Therefore, the cephalic lobe and caudal lobe of the pars distalis and the pars tuberalis of the chicken adenohypophysis are derived from specific areas of the cell cords of Rathke's pouch at 3 days of incubation. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

PMID: 12649585