title: Effects of chemical additives on functional innervation patterns in mouse spinal cord-ganglion explants in serum-free medium.
abstract: The distribution of sensory evoked bioelectric activity was examined in spinal cord-dorsal root ganglion (SC-DRG) preparations cultured in a chemically defined, serum-free medium (CDM). DRG afferents showed no preferential innervation of dorsal cord regions in this CDM, on the basis of electrophysiological mapping of the distribution of evoked responses at 4 weeks in vitro. Addition of chondroitin sulfate, galactose-1-phosphate or D(+)-galactose (but not glucose-1-phosphate) to the CDM resulted in a significant increase in presumed monosynaptic connections within the dorsal cord, thus mimicking the results observed in serum-supplemented medium [1,6]. Inasmuch as D(+)-galactose bears no negative charges yet restores the selective functional innervation, whereas glucose-1-phosphate (a highly charged molecule) fails to do so, it is concluded that it is galactose utilization, rather than the charged nature of the chondroitin sulfate and galactose-1-phosphate molecules, which is responsible for the effect.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002807:Chondroitin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003470:Culture Media; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D011930:Reaction Time; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D003470:Culture Media; D002807:Chondroitin; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates