Influence of extracellular matrix proteins on the expression of neuronal polarity

The influence of laminin (LN) and fibronectin (FN) on the differentiation of individual neurones from the embryonic rat central nervous system was studied in vitro. In control cultures or in the presence of soluble FN, most neurones had several dendrite-like and one axon-like processes. On substratum-bound LN, multipolar and unipolar cells were present. Soluble LN and bound FN induced a very simple neuronal morphology, most neurones having only one axon-like neurite as defined by morphological and immunocytochemical characteristics. The significant reduction of neuronal adhesion and spreading in conditions leading to the growth inhibition of dendrite-like processes suggests that, contrary to that of axons, dendrite growth strongly depends on neuronal adhesion. We propose a model in which the different dependency of axonal and dendritic outgrowth towards adhesion and spreading is explained by the respective physical properties of the two types of neurites.