Chondroitin sulfate E promotes neurite outgrowth of rat embryonic day 18 hippocampal neurons

In light of controversial reports concerning the effects of chondroitin sul fates on neurite outgrowth, several glycosaminoglycans belonging to this st ructural class were compared with regard to their influence on axon formati on by embryonic day 18 hippocampal neurons. In these studies, chondroitin s ulfate A (CS-A), CS-B and CS-C proved weak or inefficient in the neurite ou tgrowth promotion assay. As expected, CS-D stimulated both the fraction of neurite bearing neurons and the length of their processes. This effect coul d be neutralized by the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 473HD. In contrast, CS-E enacted a dramatic promotion of neurite outgrowth. This effect persisted in the presence of mAb 473HD, consistent with the observation that this antib ody did not react with CS-E in glycosaminoglycan transfer and blotting tech niques. We conclude that CSE contains a novel glycosaminoglycan based neuri te outgrowth promoting motif, which is distinct from other known activities . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.