Immunohistological localization of cell adhesion molecules L1, J1, N-CAM and their common carbohydrate L2 in the embryonic cortex of normal and reeler mice

The expression of the cell adhesion molecules L1, J1 and N-CAM and their shared carbohydrate L2 was studied in the embryonic cerebral cortex of normal and reeler mutant mice using light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. Apart from a general delay in their appearance in the reeler cortex, the 4 antigens were present with a cellular distribution in both genotypes reflecting the anatomical characteristics of normal and mutant phenotypes. The cell surface glycoprotein L1 was exclusively expressed by neurons, particularly axons, but was never detected at sites of neuron-glia contact. L1 was accumulated in the marginal zone and subplate of the normal cortex and in the homologous layers of the reeler cortex. The secreted glycoprotein J1 was found on glia and neurons. Although initially present in regions of fiber outgrowth, J1 became characteristically excluded from the large fiber tracts at later stages. J1 mapped in the marginal zone and subcortical plate of the normal cortex and in the corresponding layers of the mutant cortex. N-CAM had a more ubiquitous distribution and was present in ventricular zones, particularly at early stages, as well as on glia and neurons and large fiber tracts at later developmental stages. The distribution of the L2 epitope was quite similar to that of the J1 molecule but remained present on large fiber tracts, like N-CAM and L1, also at later developmental stages. These comparative observations in normal and reeler mutant mice lend support to previous suggestions that L1, together with N-CAM, may play a role in the aggregation of neuronal cell bodies after migration and in the fasciculation of developing fiber bundles. They also point to a possible function of the extracellular matrix component J1 in the guidance or support of fiber outgrowth in large fiber tracts.