Cell proliferation in chick neural tube

These stills are from a movie showing rapid cell proliferation in response to fibroblast growth factor (FGF) in the chick neural tube. The arrows indicate the position of the cell body and mark cell division as the film progresses and new cells are formed. Each new cell is indicated by a different colour arrow. These cells will continue to develop and differentiate to form neurons. Adding FGF causes the cells the divide more rapidly and in an abborant fashion, this can help scientists understand more about the abnormal cell behaviour underlying tumourgenesis. The cells have been labelled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) attached to tubulin, highlighting the microtubules - the dark region indicates the nucleus (that is unstained).