Sprouting from chicken embryo dorsal root ganglia induced by nerve growth factor is specifically inhibited by affinity-purified antiganglioside antibodies.

The involvement of gangliosides in processes related to nerve regeneration and sprouting has been demonstrated recently. The type of interaction by which gangliosides may influence neuronal sprouting was investigated in the present work. Affinity-purified rabbit anti-GM1 antibodies were found to block the sprouting from dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of chicken embryo induced by nerve growth factor (NGF). Only a moderately inhibitory effect was produced by antibodies directed to GM2, suggesting a specific interaction between NGF and GM1. In spite of the low inhibitory effect of anti-GM2 antibodies on sprouting, their binding to dissociated DRG cells was found to be higher than that of anti-GM1 antibodies. These results emphasize the high resolution of the system and suggest that the interaction of NGF with GM1 is involved in the process of sprouting.