Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 12, 1548-1557, Copyright © 1992 by Society for Neuroscience
Association of BEN glycoprotein expression with climbing fiber axonogenesis in the avian cerebellum
O Pourquie, ME Hallonet and NM Le Douarin
Institut d'Embryologie Cellulaire et Moleculaire du CNRS et du College de France, Nogent sur Marne.
In a previous study, we have identified an avian 100 kDa membrane
glycoprotein that we called BEN and demonstrated that it is transiently
present in the CNS and PNS on the cell somas and axons of neurons that
establish the peripheral neuronal circuitry. We report here that in the
developing chick cerebellar system BEN is selectively expressed on fibers
whose ingrowth and synaptogenesis pattern corresponds to that described for
climbing fibers. We have constructed quail-chick chimeras in which the
chick mesencephalon and anterior metencephalon were replaced by their quail
counterparts, thus generating a cerebellum and mesencephalon exclusively
composed of quail cells whereas the main nuclei emitting afferent fibers to
the cerebellar cortex were of chick origin. Then, using species-specific
monoclonal antibodies we were able to show in double staining experiments
that BEN protein is specifically expressed on fibers arising from the
inferior olivary nucleus. The spatiotemporal pattern of BEN expression on
the climbing fibers leads us to propose that this molecule is associated
with the growth of these fibers and with the establishment of synapses
between them and the Purkinje cell dendritic tree.
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