The expanded toolbox available for the chicken embryo model
| Tools and Methods | Reference to Method or Review | Examples of Applications |
|---|---|---|
| Ex ovo incubation | Auerbach et al., 1974 | Imaging and microsurgery (Yalcin et al., 2010) |
| Technical aspects described in Dohle et al. 2009 | ||
| Imaging | Kulesa et al., 2013 | |
| Fluorescent tracers | Clarke, 2008 | Axon tracing (Glover et al., 1986) |
| Altered projections in the spinal cord caused by retinoids (Forehand et al., 1998) | ||
| MRI | Hogers et al., 2009 | Monitoring of chicken brain development (Zhou et al., 2015) |
| PET | Walking-like brain function in embryos (Balaban et al., 2012) | |
| The chicken embryo for evaluation of radiopharmaceuticals (Haller et al., 2015) | ||
| Chicken stem cells | ||
| Stem cells available from several organs | Intarapat and Stern, 2013 | Neuronal differentiation of pluripotent stem-like cells in chickens (Dai et al., 2014) |
| Chimeric models | ||
| Quail-chick chimeras | Developed by Le Douarin and Renaud, 1969 | Fate-mapping studies to investigate developmental roles of the neural crest (Le Douarin, 2004) |
| Reviewed in Teillet et al., 2008 | Studies of cerebellar development (Hallonet et al., 1990) | |
| Xenotransplantation of human stem cells into the chicken | Glover et al., 2009 | Study of neuronal migration (Kharazi, Levy et al., 2013) |
| Boulland et al., 2010 | ||
| Disease-prone strains | ||
| Fayoumi strain | A model for epilepsy; described in Nunoya et al., 1983 | Evaluation of anticonvulsant drugs (Loscher, 1984; Johnson et al., 1985) and how seizures alter the development of the brain (Gong et al., 2003) |
| Obese strain of chicken | Studies of autoimmune thyroiditis as described in Wick, Sundick et al., 1974 and Dietrich et al., 1999 | Neuroendocrine alterations caused by thyroiditis (Schauenstein et al., 1987) |
| Gain and loss of function | Sauka-Spengler and Barembaum, 2008 | |
| Krull, 2004 | ||
| Gain of function | ||
| In ovo electroporation | Nakamura et al., 2004 | Overexpression of genes in Purkinje cells (Luo and Redies, 2004) |
| Tbx4 and Fgf10 in lung bud formation (Sakiyama et al., 2003) | ||
| Retroviral vector | Sato, 2004 | Wnt5a in pulmonary development (Loscertales et al., 2008) |
| Loss of function | ||
| RNAi gene silencing | Andermatt and Stoeckli, 2014 | Axonin/TAG-1 in cerebellar development (Baeriswyl and Stoeckli, 2008) |
| Morpholinos | Kos et al., 2003 | Transcription factor FoxD3 in the development of the neural crest (Kos et al., 2001) |
MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PET, positron emission tomography; RNAi, RNA interference.