C-PATHWAY POLYSIALOGANGLIOSIDES ARE TRANSIENTLY EXPRESSED IN THE HUMAN CEREBRUM DURING FETAL DEVELOPMENT

Gangliosides are assumed to play a crucial role in processes of cellul ar recognition and interaction important for neural development.(1,3,9 ) They are designated as cytochemical markers of neuronal maturation, as striking changes in the ganglioside pattern parallel the nervous sy stem development.(14) Of particular interest to us are numerous studie s that reported during migration of postmitotic neurons and axon forma tion in developing avian and mammalian brains a transient accumulation of highly sialylated c-pathway gangliosides.(14) However, it has thus far been thought that c-pathway gangliosides do not appear in the hum an cerebrum; their absence could be somehow interpreted(8) in the ligh t of an evolutionary trend in the pattern of brain gangliosides: by in creasing the phylogenetic scale this pattern changes by an accretion o f less sialylated gangliosides and switches from c- via b- to a-series , respectively.(4,14) The present study presents both biochemical and immunocytochemical evidence for the existence of c-pathway ganglioside s in the human cerebrum during prenatal life, and their localization i n discrete neuronal populations and growing axonal pathways. (C) 1998 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.