Characterization of substances which promote or repel sympathetic fiber growth in vitro.

To determine whether a recognition mechanism is involved in determination of sympathetic innervation patterns of various tissues, tissue-derived substances were applied to a restricted test surface region of dishes and the responses of cultured sympathetic neurites were examined. Sympathetic fibers exhibited a turning or ramifying response, resulting in a dense fiber growth on test regions coated with particulate (adheron) fractions of a conditioned-medium (CM) from expansor secundariorum, heart, peripheral blood vessel or abdominal aorta, whereas on test regions coated with those from lung, skeletal muscle or dorsal aorta the neurite growth was repelled and sparse fiber growth was observed. Particulate fractions of brain- or gizzard-CM had no effect. These patterns in vitro were in parallel with the dense sympathetic innervation in expansor secundariorum, heart, peripheral blood vessel and abdominal aorta, but little or no sympathetic innervation in lung, skeletal muscle and dorsal aorta in vivo. These results suggest that adheron particles may participate in determination of sympathetic innervation patterns. Activity which repels or promotes the sympathetic fiber growth was inactivated by pronase E or trypsin but not by DNase or neuraminidase. Repelling activity was lost after treatment with heparinase or heparitinase but not with chondroitinase ABC or hyaluronidase. Promoting activity was retained after treatment with these glycosidases. These results suggest that the factor(s) possessing a repellent effect is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan and one(s) possessing a promoting effect is a protein.