C-pathway polysialogangliosides are transiently expressed in the human cerebrum during fetal development

Abstract

Gangliosides are assumed to play a crucial role in processes of cellular recognition and interaction important for neural development. [1, 3, 9]They are designated as cytochemical markers of neuronal maturation, as striking changes in the ganglioside pattern parallel the nervous system development. [14]Of particular interest to us are numerous studies that reported during migration of postmitotic neurons and axon formation in developing avian and mammalian brains a transient accumulation of highly sialylated c-pathway gangliosides. [14]However, it has thus far been thought that c-pathway gangliosides do not appear in the human cerebrum; their absence could be somehow interpreted [8]in the light of an evolutionary trend in the pattern of brain gangliosides: by increasing the phylogenetic scale this pattern changes by an accretion of less sialylated gangliosides and switches from c- via b- to a-series, respectively. [4, 14] The present study presents both biochemical and immunocytochemical evidence for the existence of c-pathway gangliosides in the human cerebrum during prenatal life, and their localization in discrete neuronal populations and growing axonal pathways.