Domain-specific antibodies against the B2 chain of laminin inhibit neuronal migration in the neonatal rat cerebellum.

ABSTRACT

Although the spatial and temporal patterns of neuronal migration have been analyzed in great detail, little direct evidence is available as to what extracellular matrix molecules are involved. Because there is indirect evidence implicating the extracellular matrix protein laminin in neuronal migration, we investigated the effects of antibodies against a synthetic peptide derived from a neurite outgrowth domain of the B2 chain of laminin on neuronal migration in living cerebellar slices. We show by using infrared video microscopy that divalent Fab2 fragments of these antibodies inhibit granule neuronal movement in living slices of (P8) rat cerebellum. This inhibition of neuronal movement manifests itself by cessation of both radial and horizontal translocations of nuclei inside the granule neuronal processes. Fab2 fragments of antibodies against the intact (native) laminin molecule or Fab2 fragments from the preimmune serum do not affect nuclear translocation. Immunocytochemistry shows binding of the divalent Fab2 fragments of the B2 chain-specific antibodies to the Purkinje and Bergmann glial cell areas, and as punctate deposits in between the cells of the external granule cell layer. Native laminin antibodies bind to the basement membranes, and binding of the Fab2 fragments from the preimmune sera cannot be demonstrated. These results indicate that neuronal migration in the postnatal rat cerebellum in vivo involves nuclear translocation that can be inhibited by antibodies against a neurite outgrowth domain of the B2 chain of laminin. Thus, migration of cerebellar granule neurons may depend on the interaction between a neurite outgrowth domain of the B2 chain of laminin and neuronal cytoskeleton involved in nuclear movement.