MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY INTERACTION WITH THE 3RD IMMUNOGLOBULIN-LIKE DOMAIN OF N-CAM IS SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE CELL-MIGRATION

Cellular adhesion molecules can influence a variety of biological mech anisms in the nervous system. These range from the processes of normal development and maintenance to neural plasticity and recovery followi ng injury. The elucidation of the intricate contributions of these mol ecules will require the correlation of functional assays with specific molecules and the specific binding domains of such molecules with mul tiple signaling pathways. The data presented in this paper show that t he monoclonal antibody anti-NCAM16, directed against the third immunog lobulin-like domain of the neural cell adhesion molecule N-CAM, is cap able of stimulating the complex biological process of cell migration i n primary embryonic motor neurons and human neuronal cell lines.