The urogenital ridge (which includes the gonad
and attached mesonephros) has proved to be a unique
system to analyze the role of vascularization in
morphogenesis of an internal organ. During the period
of vascularization, development of the testis and ovary
diverge morphologically. Time-lapse imaging of the
gonad provides novel insights into the mechanisms that
incorporate vasculature into an organ at the stage when
structural organization of the tissue is initiated.
Moreover, the divergent development of the testis and
ovary provides a basis of comparison to correlate
vascular development with the sex specific
morphological development of the tissue. We are
currently incorporating different cellular markers in this
analysis to simultaneously image the endothelium and
other cells in the organ. As far as we know, this is the
first system for imaging vascular development in an
organ undergoing extensive epithelial morphogenesis
(Coveney et al., 2008). We are optimistic that this work
will lead to further insights into the interwoven
processes of cell differentiation and paracrine signaling
that transform a common bipotential primordium to the
highly specialized testis or ovary.
