By grafting beads soaked in growth factors or specific inhibitors of signaling pathways into developing embryos it is possible to directly test their effects in vivo. In this protocol beads are grafted into the limb bud to determine the effects of these molecules on gene expression and signal transduction.
Mohammed, R. H., Sweetman, D. Grafting of Beads into Developing Chicken Embryo Limbs to Identify Signal Transduction Pathways Affecting Gene Expression. J. Vis. Exp. (107), e53342, doi:10.3791/53342 (2016).