Response of sensory neurites and growth cones to patterned substrata of laminin and fibronectin in vitro

During neurite elongation in the developing peripheral nervous system, the distribution of laminin and fibronectin may provide preferred substrates for neurite elongation. In this study, the response of sensory neurites and growth cones to patterns of laminin or fibronectin applied to a background substrate of Type IV collagen was studied to determine any possible substrate preference. Neurites exhibited elongation restricted to a laminin pattern, but not a fibronectin pattern, indicating that sensory neurites prefer to elongate on laminin compared to Type IV collagen. When polylysine is included in the background substrate, neurite preference for laminin is decreased. Laminin also enhances neurite elongation and defasciculation and stabilizes growth cone protrusions. These results suggest an adhesive as well as a cytoskeletal involvement in the response to laminin, but direct adhesion estimates indicate that laminin decreases overall adhesion, arguing against an adhesive involvement. Regardless of the mechanism involved, the observed neurite preference for laminin is consistent with the hypothesis that spatial and temporal laminin distributions provide preferred pathways for peripheral neurite elongation.