Analysis of relationship between programmed cell death and cell cycle in limb-bud

Programmed cell death plays a crucial role in limb morphogenesis of amniote. In this paper, we showed that cell cycle and cell death in limb-buds were closely related events and there existed a critical S-phase, which corresponded to the most sensitive time for inhibition of cell death following administration of an excess dose of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). The use of microfluorometry of BrdU incorporation coupled with measurement of DNA amount of individual cells enabled us to consider that cells committed to die were withdrawn from cell cycle at G2-phase. Finally, we will summarize the nuclear events involved in apoptosis in limb morphogenesis in relation to cell cycle.