Immunolocalisation of sodium channel NaG in the intact and injured human peripheral nervous system
Authors:
Open Access
- 1 February 2001
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Anatomy
- Vol. 198 (2) , 175-180
Abstract
The voltage‐gated ‘glial’ sodium channel NaG belongs to a distinct molecular class within the multi‐gene family of mammalian sodium channels. Originally found in central and peripheral glia, NaG has since been detected in neurons in rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and may play a role in Schwann cell‐axon interactions. We have studied the presence of NaG‐like immunoreactivity in the intact and injured human peripheral nervous system using a specific affinity‐purified antibody. Nerve fibres in normal and injured peripheral nerves and normal skin exhibited intense NaG‐immunoreactivity. Numerous NaG‐immunoreactive nerve fibres surrounded neuronal cell bodies within postmortem control DRG, and in DRG avulsed from the spinal cord (i.e. after traumatic central axotomy). There were no significant differences in the pattern of NaG immunostaining between control and avulsed DRG, or with delay after injury. Generally, the neuronal cell bodies were only very weakly immunoreactive to NaG, indicating that the NaG immunoreactivity was predominantly in Schwann cells/myelin. In accord, we demonstrated NaG immunostaining in cultured human and rat Schwann cells, and in distal nerve after wallerian degeneration. NaG thus appears to be a useful new marker for Schwann cells in the human PNS, and a role in neuropathy deserves investigation.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Schwann cells modulate sodium channel expression in spinal sensory neurons in vitroGlia, 1997
- Sodium channel α-subunit mRNAs I, II, III, NaG, Na6 and hNE (PN1): different expression patterns in developing rat nervous systemMolecular Brain Research, 1997
- Structure and distribution of a broadly expressed atypical sodium channelFEBS Letters, 1997
- Spinal sensory neurons express multiple sodium channel α-subunit mRNAsMolecular Brain Research, 1996
- Sodium channel mRNAs in cultured spinal cord astrocytes: in situ hybridization in identified cell typesMolecular Brain Research, 1994
- Glial growth factors are alternatively spliced erbB2 ligands expressed in the nervous systemNature, 1993
- The glial voltage-gated sodium channel: cell- and tissue-specific mRNA expression.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992
- The presence of voltage-gated sodium, potassium and chloride channels in rat cultured astrocytesProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1985
- Voltage-dependent sodium and potassium channels in mammalian cultured Schwann cells.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1985
- Studies on cultured rat Schwann cells. I. Establishment of purified populations from cultures of peripheral nerveBrain Research, 1979