Intermediate filament proteins in developing and adult human dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia.

• Autores: Mª Teresa Vázquez-Piñeiro, M. I. Esteban, José Antonio Vega Álvarez, I. García San José, G.P. Germana, Francisco Javier Naves Mier
• Localización: European Journal of anatomy, ISSN-e 1136-4890, Vol. 5, Nº. 1, 2001, págs. 1-10
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Neuronal maturation in the central nervous system, as well as in some cells deriving from neural c rest, is accompanied by a swich in the expression of cytoskeletal intermediate filament proteins . Whether this occurs in humans and the exact timing of this change in human dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia are matters still open to debate. The present study was designed to analyze these issues in human embryos (estimated gestational age -e.g.a.- ranging between 6 and 12 weeks), as well as the possible co-expression of more than one intermediate filament protein in both embryos and adults. A panel of commercially available antibodies against vimentin, glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament proteins was used. Glial fibrillary acidic protein was consistently absent in both developing and adult dorsal root or sympathetic ganglia. Conversely, embryonic neurons, satellite glial cells and Schwann cells displayed vimentin immunoreactivity. The number of vimentin immunoreactive neurons decreased progressively, and it was absent from neurons by 12 weeks e.g.a., while it persisted in satellite glial and Schwann cells. By adulthood, the pattern of distribution was identical. The occurrence of neurofilament proteins in peripheral neurons was a re g u l a r f e a t u re from early developmental stages to adulthood, and a time-dependent increase in the percentage of neurons containing phosphorylated neurofilaments was observed. The present re s u l t s demonstrate that developing human dorsal root and sympathetic ganglion neurons co-expre s s a re neurofilaments. Our findings also show that c o - e xpression or a switch in the expression of i n t e rmediate filament proteins do not occur in satellite glialcells or Schwanncells, which normally contain vimentin and not glialfibrillary acidic protein .