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Video from light sheet microscopy images showing the development of the three main motor nerves (blue, yellow and magenta) and the dorsal (blue) and ventral (red) muscles of the limbs/wing of a chicken embryo.
Morphogenesis is a biological process that allows a tissue or organ to develop its shape by controlling the spatial distribution of different cell types.
During limb morphogenesis, a number of distinct tissue types are patterned and subsequently must be integrated to form coherent functional units. Researchers were able to show for the first time in 3 dimensions that the development of nerves and muscles takes place in a coordinated way in the chicken wing. Interestingly, we find similarities between the neuromuscular organisation of the chicken and humans. This work therefore provides a solid basis for the study of human neuromuscular diseases such as spinal muscular atrophies, muscular dystrophies and myopathies.