Dense distribution of macrophages in flexor aspects of the hand and foot of mid-term human fetuses

Cell death in the developing vertebrate limb: A locally regulated mechanism contributing to musculoskeletal tissue morphogenesis and differentiation

Our aim is to critically review current knowledge of the function and regulation of cell death in the developing limb. We provide a detailed, but short, overview of the areas of cell death observed in the developing limb, establishing their function in morphogenesis and structural development of limb tissues. We will examine the functions of this process in the formation and growth of the limb primordia, formation of cartilaginous skeleton, formation of synovial joints, and establishment of muscle bellies, tendons, and entheses. We will analyze the plasticity of the cell death program by focusing on the developmental potential of progenitors prior to death. Considering the prolonged plasticity of progenitors to escape from the death process, we will discuss a new biological perspective that explains cell death: this process, rather than secondary to a specific genetic program, is a consequence of the tissue building strategy employed by the embryo based on the formation of scaffolds that disintegrate once their associated neighboring structures differentiate.

We examine the functions of cell death in the formation and growth of the limb primordia.

We analyze the plasticity of the cell death program by focusing on the developmental potential of progenitors prior to death.

Considering the prolonged plasticity of progenitors to escape from the death process and the absence of defined genetic program in their regulation we propose that cell death is a consequence of the tissue building strategy employed by the embryo regulated by epigenetic factors .

Early embryonic development of long tendons in the human foot

To examine a common plantar tendinous plate for long flexors of the toe and fingers in human embryos, we observed sections of 10 embryos at 5-6 weeks (crown-rump length or CRL 15-21 mm). The heel or tuber of the calcaneus was underdeveloped in 3 embryos with CRL 15 mm and the talus appeared not to be piled up on the calcaneus but these two bones were arranged along the lateromedial axis. As reported in the hand, we demonstrated, in the deep side of tarsal bones, a common tendinous plate formed by a joining of the flexor halluces longus and flexor digitorum longus tendons. In the tendinous plate, much or less, some connections between tendons seemed to remain even after birth to provide much greater types of tendon anomalies than in the hand. In addition, we postulated a hypothetical change in course of the peroneus longus tendon. In the initial phase, because of the underdeveloped calcaneus, the peroneus tendon might take an almost straight course similar to long flexor tendons. However, at 6 weeks and later, the inferomedially expanding calcaneus beneath the talus was likely to push the tendon to the cuboid bone.

Influence of developing ligaments on the muscles in contact with them: a study of the annular ligament of the radius and the sacrospinous ligament in mid-term human fetuses

The supinator muscle originates from the annular ligament of the radius, and the muscle fibers and ligament take a similar winding course. Likewise, the coccygeus muscle and the sacrospinous ligament are attached together, and show a similar fiber orientation. During dissection of adult cadavers for our educational curriculum, we had the impression that these ligaments grow in combination with degeneration of parts of the muscles. In histological sections of 25 human fetuses at 10-32 weeks of gestation, we found that the proximal parts of the supinator muscle were embedded in collagenous tissue when the developing annular ligament of the radius joined the thick intermuscular connecting band extending between the extensor carpi radialis and anconeus muscles at 18-22 weeks of gestation, and the anterior parts of the coccygeus muscle were surrounded by collagenous tissue when the intramuscular tendon became the sacrospinous ligament at 28-32 weeks. Parts of these two muscles each seemed to provide a mold for the ligament, and finally became involved with it. This may be the first report to indicate that a growing ligament has potential to injure parts of the "mother muscle," and that this process may be involved in the initial development of the ligament.