L1 is a cell adhesion molecule associated with axonal outgrowth and fasciculation during spinal cord development and may reiterate its developmental role in adults following injury; L1 is upregulated on certain sprouting and regenerating axons in adults, but it is unclear if L1 expression is necessary for, or contributes to, regrowth of axons. This study asks if L1 is required for small-diameter primary afferents to sprout by conducting unilateral dorsal rhizotomies (6 segments; T10-L2) on both wildtype and L1 mutant mice. First we determined that L1 co-localizes substantially with the peptidergic (calcitonin gene-related peptide; CGRP) but minimally with the nonpeptidergic (isolectin B4; IB4) primary afferents in intact wild-type and L1 mutant mice. However, we encountered a complication using IB4 to identify primary afferents post-rhizotomy; we detected extensive abnormal IB4 expression in the dorsal horn and dorsal columns. Much of this aberrant IB4 labeling is associated with fibrous astrocytes and microglia. Five days after dorsal rhizotomy a large decrease in peptidergic and nonpeptidergic afferents is evident on the deafferented side in both wild-type and L1 mutants. Three months after surgery the peptidergic primary afferents sprouted into the center of the denervated dorsal horn in both wild-type and mutant mice, and quantitative analyses confirmed a sprouting density of similar magnitude in both genotypes. In contrast, we did not detect sprouting in the nonpeptidergic primary afferents in either genotype. These results suggest that the absence of L1 neither diminishes nor enhances sprouting of peptidergic small-diameter primary afferent axons following a dorsal rhizotomy.
Keywordscell adhesion molecule; denervated; IB4; CGRP; nociceptors; rhizotomy The cell adhesion molecule L1 (L1 CAM) is an axonal glycoprotein and a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily (Kamiguchi et al., 1997). L1 plays a role in axonal outgrowth, fasciculation, and guidance during spinal cord development (Stallcup et al., 1985;Jessell, 1988;Stoeckli and Landmesser, 1995;Orlino et al., 2000;Tran and Phelps, 2000;Akopians et al., 2003) through homophilic and various heterophilic binding partners such as integrins (αVβ3 and α5β1) and the fibroblast growth factor receptor (Kamiguchi and Lemmon, 1997 Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Lemmon, 1997;Castellani et al., 2000).
NIH Public AccessMutations in X-linked L1 in humans cause major developmental errors and result in a group of symptoms that include corpus callosum hypoplasia, spastic paraplegia and hydrocephalus (Fran...