Incorporation of 3H-fucose into nerve and glial cells: assessment by electron microscopic autoradiography

Growth related changes in sugar determinants on the surface of C6 glioma cells in culture: a cytochemical lectin-binding study

The cell surface sugar determinants (CSSD) were examined in C6 glioma cells in cultures at different conditions of growth by peroxidase conjugates of the lectins: peanut agglutinin (PNA), Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA), Helix pomatia agglutinin (HPA), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), lentil agglutinin (LCA), laburnum bork agglutinin (LABA), and lotus agglutinin (TPA). It was found that the cells bound more intensively WGA, LCA, and RCA compared to PNA, HPA; the weakest staining was provided by LABA and TPA. Binding intensity for PNA significantly increased after pretreatment of the cells with neuraminidase. This indicates that a part of the beta-D-galactose residues on the surface membrane of C6 glioma cells is covered by sialic acid. The process of sialization was increased during the culturing of C6 glioma cells. Addition of cis-DDP or dBcAMP to cultures growing in medium with 10% of CS increased the number of Gal residues which are not covered by sialic acid. The expression of beta-D-galactose (Gal), N-acetyl-D-galactosamine (NAcDGal), and fucose (Fuc) residues appeared to be most responsive to changes in growth conditions and degree of cell differentiation. The expressions of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAcDGlc) and mannose (Man) residues were high and seems did not depend on changing of the conditions of culturing. In C6 glioma cells cultures in which the rate of cell division, formation of the cell processes, and adhesiveness of the cells to the substratum were reduced by growing cells in MEM+, expression of beta-Gal, NAcDGal, and Fuc was considerably reduced. The decrease of expression of beta-Gal, NAcDGal, and Fuc on the surface of cell membrane was more pronounced in MEM+ with 1% of CS than in MEM+ with 10% of CS. In DbcAMP and cis-DDP treated cultures, grown in medium with 1% serum, in which cell division was inhibited without obvious changes in cell adhesiveness to the substratum, binding of PNA and HPA was increased due to higher expression of beta-Gal and NAcDGal. From these observations it was concluded that the pattern of expression of sugar residues on the cell surface varies according to the biological state of the cells and are easily affected by tissue culture conditions.

Glial and glycoconjugate boundaries during postnatal development of the central nervous system

The localization of glycosylated molecules and glia has been studied during early postnatal development in the mouse central nervous system (CNS) using autoradiographic detection of radiolabeled fucose incorporation, and in sections processed either for histochemistry or immunocytochemistry following binding of labeled lectins or an antibody to glial fibrillary acidic protein. Radiolabeled sugar incorporation, lectin binding of glycoconjugates, and glial labeling all reveal borders between nuclei within the diencephalon, midbrain, and brainstem through the first postnatal week. Glycoconjugate and glial boundaries exist throughout the CNS during pattern formation events, and they also are seen in relation to fine aspects of developing functional organization within individual structures (e.g. segmentation associated with the representation of mystacial vibrissae within the brainstem trigeminal complex). The observation that each of the probes employed in this study fails to label boundary organization during later postnatal times suggests that the distribution and chemistry of the glial/glycoconjugate network are dynamic, and they change in accordance with distinct maturational states of the nervous system.

Volume densities and specific surfaces of neuronal and glial tissue elements in the rat supraoptic nucleus

The present study was undertaken to provide an explanation for previous autoradiographic results suggesting a several times higher rate of synthesis of glycoconjugates per unit volume of hypothalamic glia than of neurons. Volume densities, specific surfaces (surface-volume ratios), and relative surfaces (contribution of the surface of a tissue element to the total surface of the tissue) were assessed. Neuronal elements occupy about 74% and glial elements about 8% of the total volume. The specific surface, i.e., the amount of plasma membrane per unit volume of structure, is more than 30 times higher in the neuropil than in the neuronal perikaryal fraction. The largest specific surface is found with (unmyelinated) axons and astroglial processes. The specific surface of the average astrocyte is about twice that of the average neuron. If the surface of the entire cell is considered in relation to the perikaryal volume only, this ratio is about seven times as large for glial cells as for neurons. It follows that an astrocyte perikaryon has to renew a several times larger plasma membrane than a neuron, which can account for the above differences in perikaryal synthesis rates of glycoconjugates.

Incorporation of [3H]leucine into hypothalamic nerve and glial cells. A comparison by EM autoradiography

Incorporation of L-[3H]leucine into the arcuate and supraoptic nuclei of rat and mice hypothalamus was studied by EM autoradiography at 30 min after intracerebral and intravenous application, respectively. The analysis applied provides information about (1) the distribution and (2) the concentration of radioactivity in the various tissue compartments, in particular nerve and glial cells. In the supraoptic nucleus, the proportion of radioactivity present in neuronal perikarya markedly exceeds that in the neuropil. Similar amounts of radioactivity in neuronal perikarya and neuropil were found for the arcuate nucleus. In both hypothalamic nuclei, only a small percentage of radioactivity is localized in glial cell bodies. However, the concentration of radioactivity in glial cells is nearly as high as in nerve cells and is lowest in the neuropil. Furthermore analysis of the subcompartments of the neuropil reveals that a considerable proportion of its radioactivity can be attributed to astrocytic processes. Conditions are discussed under which grain densities can be taken as measurements of relative synthesis rates of proteins. The results which are at variance with earlier autoradiographic studies are largely consistent with those of more recent biochemical studies on brain tissue separated into neuronal and glial fractions.