Chick embryo spinal nerves

A light microscope image of a three-day old chick embryo in which the nerve cells and fibres are revealed by a specific stain. Nerves that will grow out towards the developing muscles can be seen leaving the spinal cord in segmentally arranged bundles through the top half of each somite (which go on to form the vertebrae and muscle). The first nerves to cross the spinal cord from either side can also be seen. Biomedical Image Awards 1998.