A novel cellular prion protein isoform present in rapid anterograde axonaltransport

WE studied the axonal transport of PrPC in hamster retinal and sciatic nerv e axons, Our results show that a novel 38 kDa form is the predominant form in rapid anterograde axonal transport while the 36 kDa and 33 kDa PrPC form s, abundant in nerve and brain, appear to be either stationary or slowly tr ansported. We did not detect any significant retrograde transport of PrPC. These results show that 38 kDa PrPC is the form exported from the cell body to the axonal compartment where it may represent the precursor to the more abundant PrPC forms after its modification in nerve fibres or terminals. ( C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.