Cerebellar cell surface antigens of mouse brain

Reaggregated cells from 6- to 8-day-old mouse cerebella have been used to raise antibodies in rabbits. The interaction of these antibodies with cerebellar cell surface components was assessed by cytotoxicity of 51Cr-labeled cerebellar cell cultures and indirect immunofluorescence. A quantitative comparison of the relative amount of antigen on cells from other mouse tissues, brain regions, cerebella of various aged mice and mutant mice, and other animal species, as well as several clonal cell lines of nervous system origin, was made. A fixed subthreshold concentration of antiserum was adsorbed with increasing numbers of dissociated cells or amounts of particulate tissue prior to incubation with complement and 51Cr-labeled cerebellar target cells. Mouse thymus, spleen, liver, and heart tissue possess negligible adsorbing capacity, whereas kidney and sperm gave some adsorption. Of the brain regions examined, only cerebellum removed all immunofluorescence and cytotoxic activity, whereas other regions removed less than 90%, suggesting the possibility of cerebellar specific antigens on certain cell types. Only mouse and rat cerebellum gave measurable adsorptions, and this capacity decreased with increasing age. Although cerebellar mutants (stagger, weaver, and nervous) possessed similar adsorptive capacity, glioma and neuroblastoma clonal cell lines differed measurably in their adsorption; only the mouse neuroblastoma clones displayed significant adsorption of the antiserum.