Prospective mesodermal cells of Xenopus laevis gastrulae showed substantial locomotion in vitro, averaging 4.3 microns/min, when dissociated and cultured on a glass surface coated with collagen and fetal bovine serum. The cells translocate by making lamellipodia and filopodia whereas the main cell body remains rounded. When two mesodermal cells made contact with each other, they showed contact paralysis of lamellipodial activity. In contrast, when mesodermal cells contact ectodermal cells, contact paralysis does not occur. Rather, migrating mesodermal cells continue to translocate. The locomotion in vitro appears to mimic that in vivo during gastrulation, because of the similarities of the rate of movement and the cell shape in culture and in embryos. Neither prospective ectodermal cells from gastrulae nor prospective mesodermal cells from blastulae showed locomotion under the same culture conditions.
