Developmental patterns of neurite outgrowth from chick embryo spinal cord and retinal neurons on laminin substrates.

It has been previously found that neurite outgrowth on collagen substrates decreases with increasing gestational age of chick embryo spinal cord and retinal neurons in tissue culture. In the current study, laminin, polylysine and collagen were compared in their efficacy in promoting neurite extension from chick embryo spinal cord neurons aged 6-16 days or retinal neurons aged 8-16 days in ovo. The percentage of neurons with neurites and the length of the neurites were determined at 1 and 3 days in culture. There was a significant increase in neuritogenesis by laminin and polylysine compared to collagen for both spinal cord and retinal neurons. Further, in spinal cord cultures grown on a laminin substrate, there was no decline in neurite outgrowth with increasing developmental age of the neurons as was seen on collagen and polylysine. Neurite length measurements also demonstrated a significant stimulation of neuritogenesis for spinal cord, but not retinal, neurons by laminin compared to polylysine or collagen in 1-day cultures. The results demonstrate tissue-specific differences in the developmental patterns of neurite outgrowth. Retinal neurons appear to have intrinsic changes in their ability to respond to extracellular promoting factors or substrates, while spinal cord neurite outgrowth can be regulated by these extrinsic factors.