Developmental changes of neuron-specific enolase and neurofilament proteins in primary neural culture.

The expression of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and neurofilament (NF) proteins in primary dissociated cell cultures derived from 14-day-old fetal rat diencephalon was studied by immunocytochemistry and quantitative western-blot techniques. Both neuronal marker proteins, NSE and NF, can be detected as early as day 2 in vitro. They show pronounced quantitative increases during the time period studied (12 days), the relative change being highest during the first few days in vitro (DIV). The molar ratio of the medium weight NF to the heavy NF polypeptide is 9.1 after 2 DIV and 2.6 after 12 DIV. Phosphorylation of the heavy NF polypeptide increases steadily during cultivation. Comparison of these results to in vivo data reported in the literature suggests that, qualitatively, neuronal development in vitro follows the pattern observed in vivo, but at an accelerated pace.