Lm. Koval et al., ELECTRON CYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF CARBOHYDRATE COMPONENTS IN CULTURED NERVE AND GLIAL-CELLS OF THE SNAIL HELIX-POMATIA, Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Physiology, 106(1), 1993, pp. 121-133
1. A variety of colloidal gold-labelled lectins with different sugar s
pecificities to determine whether different nerve and glial cells of t
he snail Helix pomatia cultured in vitro, can be distinguished by the
carbohydrates that they express was screened. The analysis of lectin b
inding has shown substantial differences in the carbohydrate pattern b
etween nerve and glial cells and between the soma of monoaminergic and
peptidergic neurons. 2. The surface of monoaminergic and peptidergic
neurons contains N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyllactosamine determina
nts, and does not exhibit neuraminic acid and complex branched N-glyco
syl chains. Moreover, N-acetylgalactosamine can be detected on peptide
rgic neuron membranes only. 3. N-Acetylglucosamine residues are not pr
esent on the surface of the glial cells, and the density of the N-acet
yllactosamine and/or terminal beta-galactose residues is much higher h
ere than on the surface of the nerve cells. 4. These results suggest t
hat nerve cells in the snail brain can be distinguished from glial cel
ls by the presence of a cell-surface glycoconjugate containing termina
l N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues, whereas peptidergic neurons can be
distinguished from monoaminergic neurons by the presence of a surface
glycoconjugate containing terminal alpha-linked N-acetyl-D-galactosami
ne residues.