tailieunhanh - Báo cáo khoa học: Identification of versican as an isolectin B4-binding glycoprotein from mammalian spinal cord tissue

Nociceptors are specialized nerve fibers that transmit noxious pain stimuli to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. A subset of nociceptors, the nonpepti-dergic C-fibers, is characterized by its reactivity for the plant isolectin B4 (IB4) from Griffonia simplicifolia. The molecular nature of the IB4-reactive glycoconjugate, although used as a neuroanatomical marker for more than a decade, has remained unknown. | iFEBS Journal Identification of versican as an isolectin B4-binding glycoprotein from mammalian spinal cord tissue Oliver Bogen1 Mathias Dreger1 z Clemens Gillen2 Wolfgang Schroder2 and Ferdinand Hucho1 1 Freie Universitat Berlin Institut fur Chemie-Biochemie Thielallee Berlin Germany 2 Research and Development GrunenthalGmbH Aachen Germany Keywords IB4 versican nonpeptidergic C-fibers extracellular matrix neuropathic pain Correspondence Freie Universitat Berlin Institut fur Chemie-Biochemie Thielallee 63 14195 Berlin Germany Fax 49 3083 853753 Tel 49 3083 855545 E-mail hucho@ Present address University Laboratory of Physiology Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PT UK Glossary Allodynia sensation of pain caused by stimuli that are normally innocuous cross-excitation non-synaptic depolarization of dorsal root ganglia neurons in response to excitation of neighbouring neurons hyperalgesia increased responsiveness of nociceptors upon noxious stimulation neuropathic pain pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system nociceptor primary sensory neuron that is activated by stimuli capable of causing tissue damage. Received 4 November 2004 revised 11 December 2004 accepted 21 December 2004 doi Nociceptors are specialized nerve fibers that transmit noxious pain stimuli to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. A subset of nociceptors the nonpepti-dergic C-fibers is characterized by its reactivity for the plant isolectin B4 IB4 from Griffonia simplicifolia. The molecular nature of the IB4-reactive glycoconjugate although used as a neuroanatomical marker for more than a decade has remained unknown. We here present data which strongly suggest that a splice variant of the extracellular matrix proteoglycan versican is the IB4-reactive glycoconjugate associated with these nociceptors. We isolated by subcellular fractionation and IB4 affinity chromatography a glycoconjugate from porcine spinal cord tissue that