Bovine floor plate cells express the SCO-spondin gene

A good body of evidence points to a chemical relationship between compounds secreted by both, the floor plate (FP) and the subcommissural organ (SCO; a ventricular brain gland whose function has not been fully established). S ince SCO-spondin is the major SCO secretory glycoprotein, we investigated w hether this protein is also expressed in the FP. For this purpose, RNA from bovine FP was analyzed using PCR primers which revealed the expected SCO-s pondin-product. The sequence identity of this PCR-fragment to the correspon ding SCO-spondin region was established by southern blot and sequencing. FP -translation of SCO-spondin was demonstrated by western blot analysis and i mmunocytochemistry. These results support previous evidence ascribing CNS d evelopmental properties to SCO-spondin.