Immunoelectron microscopic localization of E-cadherin in dorsal root ganglia, dorsal root and dorsal horn of postnatal mice.
Sensory neurons and associated glial cells are known to express the cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin. The cellular and subcellular localization of this molecule in the dorsal root ganglion, dorsal root, and spinal cord of postnatal mice was studied by the pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopic labelling technique. In the dorsal root and the superficial layer of the dorsal horn, a subset of fasciculating unmyelinated axons expressed E-cadherin at their axon-axon contacts at all ages studied, and these axons were clustered together and segregated from E-cadherin-negative axons. In contrast, pre-myelinating large-diameter axons in P2 mice as well as myelinated axons in mice from P14 to adulthood were E-cadherin-negative. Glial cells also expressed E-cadherin: In the dorsal root ganglia, all of the satellite cells expressed E-cadherin at contact sites with neurons, other satellite cells, and basal lamina, at all ages studied. In dorsal roots from P14 to adulthood, myelin-forming Schwann cells expressed E-cadherin at the outer mesaxons and the contact sites with basal lamina. Non-myelin-forming Schwann cells occasionally stained for this molecule at contact sites with the plasma membrane of E-cadherin-positive axons and at other sites. These results strongly suggest that E-cadherin plays an important role in the selective fasciculation of a particular subset of unmyelinated sensory fibres, and also in glial cell contacts.
Uchiyama
N
N
Department of Neurosurgery, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Japan.
Hasegawa
M
M
Yamashima
T
T
Yamashita
J
J
Shimamura
K
K
Takeichi
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000502:physiology; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000737:chemistry*; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000737:chemistry*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D016610:Tissue Embedding
D015820:Cadherins