H. Tanaka et al., LOW-AFFINITY NERVE GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR IS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTONEURON AXONAL PATHWAYS, Neuroscience research, 27(1), 1997, pp. 21-27
The unidentified cell-surface antigen recognized by monoclonal antibod
y M7412 is distributed along motoneuron axonal outgrowth pathways in c
hicken embryos. To better characterize its role in motoneuron developm
ent, the M7412 antigen was purified from chicken embryos by immunoaffi
nity chromatography. Its N-terminal amino acid sequence corresponded t
o that predicted for chicken low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor
(LNGFR). Experiments were performed to confirm that LNGFR was indeed
the antigen recognized by M7412. First, M7412 bound to recombinant chi
cken LNGFR expressed in mammalian cells. Second, a rabbit serum raised
to the purified antigen showed the same staining pattern in chicken e
mbryos as did M7412. Lastly, a novel method for direct detection of ne
rve growth facter (NGF) bound to its receptors was used to show that i
n mixed spinal cord cultures, only neurons that expressed M7412 antige
n had low-affinity binding sites for NGF. Furthermore, at the subcellu
lar level, M7412 labeling was co-localized with bound NGF. The M7412 a
ntigen is thus chicken LNGFR, whose role in motoneuron outgrowth pathw
ays is discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.