scholarly journals THE VISUALIZATION OF CONCANAVALIN A BINDING SITES IN PURKINJE CELL SOMATA AND DENDRITES OF RAT CEREBELLUM

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Wood ◽  
Barbara J. McLaughlin ◽  
Robert P. Barber

The localization of concanavalin A (Con A) binding sites in Purkinje cell somata and dendrites has been studied using a peroxidase labeling technique. In the somata, the nuclear, Golgi, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes are rich in Con A binding sites. The hypolemmal cisternae, which are continuous with the ER from the soma and throughout the dendritic tree of Purkinje cells, are also rich in Con A binding sites. Other cisternae seen in these dendrites do not bind detectable amounts of Con A. The results suggest that a cisternal system, rich in carbohydrate, may be continuous from the nuclear envelope to distal dendritic segments of Purkinje cells. Such a system could play a role in the movement of materials from Purkinje somata to dendrites.

1975 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 607-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Amakawa ◽  
T Barka

The submandibular glands of 4-week-old rats were dissociated by a procedure involving digestions with collagenase and hyaluronidase, chelation of divalent cations and mechanical force. A suspension of single cells was obtained in low yield by centrifugation in a Ficoll-containing medium. Immediately after dissociation and after a culture period of 16-18 hr the dissociated cells were tested for agglutinability by concanavalin A (Con A). Using ferritin (tfer)-conjugated Con A the lectin binding by the isolated acinar cells was also studied. The dissociated cells were agglutinated by low concentrations of Con A and bound Fer-Con A molecules on their entire surface without any indication of polarization of the cell membrane. There was a considerable cell to cell variation in the amount of Fer-Con A binding which was, in general, sparse and patchy. The contact surfaces between agglutinated cells revealed a dense binding of Fer-Con A molecules irrespective of the types of cells participating in the agglutination reaction. Cells cultured for 16-18 hr were no longer agglutinated by Con A. As compared to the freshly dissociated cells the cultured acinar cells revealed a more uniform and denser binding of Fer-Con A molecules. Furthermore, there were more lectin molecules bound to the cell surface corresponding to the basal part of the cell, where the nucleus and most of the rough surface endoplasmic reticulum were located, than to the apical cell surface. It is suggested that the higher density of lectin-binding sites on the cell surface in the vicinity of the cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum indicates insertion sites of newly synthesized membrane glycoproteins.


1978 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 822-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Nir

Localization of carbohydrate components in retinal photoreceptor cells and membranes was studied. Frog and rat retinas were fixed with glutaraldehyde and embedded in glycol methacrylate or in a mixture of glycol methacrylate, glutaraldehyde and urea. Thin sections were incubated with ferritin-labeled concanavalin A (F-Con A) and stained with osmium vapors. Intensive binding was observed in both rod and cone outer segments. In the rod inner segment, differential binding of F-Con A was demonstrated. While numerous ferritin granules were observed in the myoid zone, only a few were seen in the ellipsoid zone, except for a local accumulation along the plasma membrane. In the rod outer segment, Con A binding sites were closely associated with the disk membranes. Ferritin granules were observed on both sides of the membranes. The relationship between the localization of Con A binding sites and the orientation of visual pigment molecules within the rod outer segments disk membranes was discussed.


1975 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
J.G. Collard ◽  
J.H. Temmink

Calculations of the density of Concanavalin A (Con A)-binding sites on normal and transformed fibroblasts have, as yet, been based on the unproven assumption that suspended cells are smooth spheres. We studied the surface morphology of suspended normal and transformed fibroblasts with scanning and transmission electron microscopes, and found a large difference in surface morphology between suspended normal and transformed 3T3 cells. When this difference in surface morphology was taken into account, the estimated cell surface area of normal 3T3 cells was approximately seven times larger than that of transformed 3T3 cells. Since equal numbers of 3H-Con A molecules are bound on normal and transformed cells, the density of Con A-binding sites is approximately seven times greater on transformed than on normal 3T3 cells. The difference in density of Con A-binding sites between normal and transformed fibroblasts might be sufficient to explain the difference in agglutination response, as originally suggested by Burger, and may also be the cause of the different degrees of clustering of Con A-binding sites on the plasma membrane of these cells.


1975 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Storrie

Exposure of CHO-K1 cells in vitro to dibutyryl adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate (DBcAMP) plus testololactone produces a rapid, reversible antagonism of ligand-induced collection of initially dispersed concanavalin A (Con A) binding sites into a caplike mass. Morphologically, as Con A capping occurs, the cells become less spread and then round completely. With prolonged Con A exposure, cells cultured in either the absence or the presence of DBcAMP plus testololactone cap and round. Capping is blocked by cold treatment and respiratory inhibitors. Colcemid at concentrations greater than 1 muM promotes both Con A capping and cell rounding. Cytochalasin B at similar concentrations inhibits both capping and cell rounding. Treatment of cells with Con A has little effect on intracellular cAMP concentration. Possible mechanisms by which cAMP may modulate the movement of Con A binding sites are discussed.


1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 987-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Roth

A method is described for the electron microscopic detection of lectin-binding sites in different cellular compartments and extracellular structures that uses thin sections from resin-embedded tissues. Various lectins (Ricinus communis lectin I and II, peanut lectin, Lotus tetragonolobus lectin, Ulex europeus lectin I, Lens culinaris lectin, Helix pomatia lectin, and soybean lectin) were bound to particles of colloidal gold and used for direct staining of thin sections or glycoprotein--gold complexes were prepared and applied in an indirect technique (concanavalin A and horseradish peroxidase--gold complex; wheat germ lectin and ovomucoid--gold complex). The details for preparation of such complexes from 14 nm gold particles are reported. The conditions of tissue processing that gave satisfactory staining results and good fine structure preservation were mild aldehyde fixation without osmification and low temperature embedding with the hydrophilic resin Lowicryl K4M. None of the so-called etching procedures was necessary prior to labeling of Lowicryl K4M thin sections. Examples of the use of this approach for detection of glycoconjugates in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, and mucin of intestinal goblet cells as well as plasma membrane and various intracellular structures of absorptive intestinal and renal tubular cells are shown. A comparison is made with preembedding staining results on Concanavalin A-binding site localization in rat liver which shows that problems of penetration common in such a technique are circumvented by the postembedding approach described here. Concanavalin A-binding sites were not only consistently found in nuclear envelope, rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, plasma membranes, and collagen fibers, but also in mitochondria, glycogen, ribosomes, and nucleus. These data and those of a previous investigation (Roth J, Cytochem 31:547, 1983) prove the applicability of this cytochemical technique for postembedding localization of glycoconjugates by light and electron microscopy.


1982 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Samuelson ◽  
J P Caulfield ◽  
J R David

The lectin concanavalin A (Con A) was used as a model probe to study the behavior of molecules bound to the surface of recently transformed schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni. Con A binding was saturable (150-180 pg/organism) and specifically competed by alpha-methyl mannoside. Both FITC-Con A and 125-I-Con A were lost from the surface of schistosomula with a halftime of 8-10 h in culture in defined medium. A comparable decrease in the binding of Con A to schistosomula cultured and then labeled with the lectin indicated that the labeling procedure itself was not inducing the observed change. Internalization of Con A was not seen by either fluorescence microscopy or electron microscope radioautography. In addition, 70-80% of the radioactivity lost from the parasite was recoverable by TCA precipitation from the culture medium as intact Con A (27,000 mol wt on SDS PAGE). Thus, the mechanism of clearance of bound Con A from the surface of cultured schistosomula is apparently by sloughing of Con A molecules intact into the culture media and not by endocytosis and degradation. Con A binding sites, visualized with hemocyanin by scanning electron microscopy, appeared homogeneously distributed over the surface of schistosomula when organisms were labeled at 4 degree C or after fixation with glutaraldehyde. However, Con A and hemocyanin formed aggregates on the surface of schistosomula when labeling was performed at 37 degrees C, which suggests that lectin binding sites have lateral mobility within the plane of the membrane. These aggregates are likely independent of metabolism by the parasite because aggregation also occurs on the surface of organisms killed with azide.


1978 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 874-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Rodriguez Boulan ◽  
G Kreibich ◽  
D D Sabatini

Carbohydrate-containing structures in rat liver rough microsomes (RM) were localized and characterized using iodinated lectins of defined specificity. Binding of [125I]Con A increased six- to sevenfold in the presence of low DOC (0.04--0.05%) which opens the vesicles and allows the penetration of the lectins. On the other hand, binding of [125I]WGA and [125I]RCA increased only slightly when the microsomal vesicles were opened by DOC. Sites available in the intact microsomal fraction had an affinity for [125I]Con A 14 times higher than sites for lectin binding which were exposed by the detergent treatment. Lectin-binding sites in RM were also localized electron microscopically with lectins covalently bound to biotin, which, in turn, were visualized after their reaction with ferritin-avidin (F-Av) markers. Using this method, it was demonstrated that in untreated RM samples, binding sites for lectins are not present on the cytoplasmic face of the microsomal vesicles, even after removal of ribosomes by treatment with high salt buffer and puromycin, but are located on smooth membranes which contaminate the rough microsomal fraction. Combining this technique with procedures which render the interior of the microsomal vesicles accessible to lectins and remove luminal proteins, it was found that RM membranes contain binding sites for Con A and for Lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA) located exclusively on the cisternal face of the membrane. No sites for WGA, RCA, soybean (SBA) and Lotus tetragonobulus (LTA) agglutinins were detected on either the cytoplasmic or the luminal faces of the rough microsomes. These observations demonstrate that: (a) sugar moieties of microsomal glycoproteins are exposed only on the luminal surface of the membranes and (b) microsomal membrane glycoproteins have incomplete carbohydrate chains without the characteristic terminal trisaccharides N-acetylglucosamine comes from galactose comes from sialic acid or fucose present in most glycoproteins secreted by the liver. The orientation and composition of the carbohydrate chains in microsomal glycoproteins indicate that the passage of these glycoproteins through the Golgi apparatus, followed by their return to the endoplasmic reticulum, is not required for their biogenesis and insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane.


1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-202
Author(s):  
M. INOUE

The binding of 131I-labelled concanavalin A (131I-Con A) to the cell surface has been studied in Ehrlich ascites tumour cells (EATC) and beef erythrocytes under various conditions. The binding of concanavalin A (Con A) to the cell surface was very specific and the available binding sites were saturated within a few minutes. The amount of 131I-Con A bound to EATC was 4.14 x 107 molecules/cell at 37 °C and 2.12 x 107 molecules/cell at 0 °C. Under these conditions, cell agglutination was observed only at 37 °C and not at 0 °C. However, the binding sites measured at 0 °C were also effective for agglutination at 37 °C. Beef erythrocytes were agglutinated by Con A only after treatment of cells with papain. The number of binding sites for Con A on the cell surface was decreased by this treatment to about half the number present on untreated cells. Various reagents such as colchicine, monoiodoacetic acid, dinitrophenol, rotenone, sodium azide and carboxyl cyanide-m-fluorophenylhydrazone (FCCP) had no effect on Con A-mediated cell agglutination. In contrast, periodate treatment produced a remarkable decrease in the agglutinability of cells. From these data, it is concluded that the cell agglutination induced by Con A was due to the topographical distribution of the surface receptors for the lectin, and not the result of energy-dependent or microtubule-dependent reaction processes. The number and the state of Con A receptors on the cell surface were in a dynamic condition, their conformation, orientation, and/or topographical distribution changing under different conditions.


1987 ◽  
Vol 241 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Gokhale ◽  
N G Mehta

Human erythrocytes become agglutinable with concanavalin A (Con A) after treatment with various proteinases or neuraminidase. The extent of agglutinability achieved with different enzymes is, however, different: Pronase, papain, trypsin, neuraminidase and chymotrypsin enhance the agglutinability in decreasing order, the last being barely effective. The actions of the enzymes on band 3, the Con A receptor, do not correlate with their abilities to increase the agglutinability: Pronase, papain and chymotrypsin cleave the protein, but not trypsin or neuraminidase. No significant differences are found in the number of Con A-binding sites or the affinities for the lectin between the normal and trypsin- or Pronase-treated cells. Thus the receptor does not seem to play a role in determining the Con A-agglutinability of erythrocytes. On the other hand, the cleavage of glycophorins, especially glycophorin A, and the release of sialic acid (in the peptide-bound form) are well-correlated with the enhancement in agglutination after the action of proteinases. The release of sialic acid by graded neuraminidase digestion and the increase in Con A-agglutinability show a correlation coefficient of 0.88. The major inhibitory role of glycophorin A in the process is indicated by the agglutination of En(a) heterozygous erythrocytes; the cells, known to bear about 50% glycophorin A molecules in their membrane, are agglutinated approximately half as well without proteolysis as are the trypsin-treated cells. Possible mechanisms by which glycophorin A could affect Con A-mediated agglutination are discussed.


Author(s):  
Joy Zhou ◽  
Amanda M. Brown ◽  
Elizabeth P. Lackey ◽  
Marife Arancillo ◽  
Tao Lin ◽  
...  

AbstractRamón y Cajal proclaimed the neuron doctrine based on circuit features he exemplified using cerebellar basket cell projections. Basket cells form dense inhibitory plexuses that wrap Purkinje cell somata and terminate as pinceaux at the initial segment of axons. Here, we demonstrate that HCN1, Kv1.1, PSD95 and GAD67 unexpectedly mark patterns of basket cell pinceaux that map onto Purkinje cell functional zones. Using cell-specific genetic tracing with an Ascl1CreERT2 mouse conditional allele, we reveal that basket cell zones comprise different sizes of pinceaux. We tested whether Purkinje cells instruct the assembly of inhibitory projections into zones, as they do for excitatory afferents. Genetically silencing Purkinje cell neurotransmission blocks the formation of sharp Purkinje cell zones and disrupts excitatory axon patterning. The distribution of pinceaux into size-specific zones is eliminated without Purkinje cell output. Our data uncover the cellular and molecular diversity of a foundational synapse that revolutionized neuroscience.


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