M. Buttiglione et al., F3 NEURONAL ADHESION MOLECULE CONTROLS OUTGROWTH AND FASCICULATION OFCEREBELLAR GRANULE CELL NEURITES - A CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC EFFECT MEDIATED BY THE IG-LIKE DOMAINS, Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 8(1), 1996, pp. 53-69
F3 is a glycane phosphatidylinositol-anchored neuronal adhesion glycop
rotein which consists of immunoglobulin (Ig) domains and fibronectin t
ype III repeats. Here we showed that total F3 or F3-Ig domains when pr
esented as membrane components of CHO transfected cells influenced gro
wth cone morphology, strongly inhibited outgrowth, and induced fascicu
lation of cerebellar granule cell axons. An F3-Ig-Fc chimera induced n
eurite fasciculation from cerebellar neuron aggregates when used as a
coated substrate but not in the soluble form. The F3 effect on neurite
elongation is highly specific for neuronal cell types since under the
same experimental conditions it did not modify neurite outgrowth of h
ippocampal neurons and was shown to stimulate elongation of neurites f
rom sensory neurons in both membrane-anchored and soluble form. Our re
sults provide evidence to extend the proposed role of F3 and strongly
suggest that axonal-growth-controlling molecules may quite generally e
xert dual actions which are likely to depend on the receptor repertoir
e of the responding neuron.