Differential effects of glycosaminoglycans on neurite outgrowth from hippocampal and thalamic neurones

Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans are expressed in a temporally restricted pattern from embryonic day 17 to postnatal day 0 in both the thalamus and the cortical subplate, to which thalamic neurones transiently project. To study whether chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans could be specifically involved in the modulation of thalamic axon outgrowth, we compared neurite outgrowth from cultured rat embryonic hippocampal and thalamic neurones, in the presence of chondroitin sulphate type C (isolated from shark cartilage) and chondroitin sulphate type B (dermatan sulphate; isolated from bovine mucosa). When added to the culture medium, both types of glycosaminoglycan lowered the adhesion to laminin and polylysine of both hippocampal and thalamic neurones. However, only chondroitin sulphate specifically modified the pattern of thalamic but not hippocampal neurone outgrowth, promoting axon growth. The morphological changes induced by chondroitin sulphate were concentration dependent and correlated with the selective binding of chondroitin sulphate to the neuronal plasma membrane and its subsequent internalisation. Chondroitin sulphate loosely bound to the surface of hippocampal neurones, but was not internalised. These results indicate that proteoglycans, and in particular the glycosaminoglycan component of these molecules, can differentially modulate neurite outgrowth, depending on their biochemical composition and on the type of neurones they bind to; this would be a possible mechanism of controlling axon guidance in vivo.