抄録
Asparagine-linked oligosaccharide (N-glycans) on the cell surface undergo dynamic changes during embryogenesis; i.e., in the peripheral tissues, mannose type N-glycan is changed to complex type N-glycan. On the contrary, in the brain, mannose type N-glycan appears to be retained in adulthood. In the last meeting, we have investigated the carbohydrate diversity in embryonic mouse brain and showed the expression of complex type N-glycan on the cell surface of the subventricular zone cells by immunohistochemical analysis. In this study, we performed quantitative analysis of embryonic brain cells by using Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) system, and revealed that a half of the nestin positive cells in the embryonic mouse brain boar complex type N-glycan. We, then, tried to purificate the neural stem cells (NSC) from mouse brain through complex type N-glycan on surface. As a result, complex type N-glycan positive cells enable to form neurosphere at greater extent (36.7 fold) compared to N-glycan negative cells, and enable to differentiate to neurons and glial cells. These results indicate that unique expression of complex N-glycans are valuable substances for the prospective purification of living NSC. [J Physiol Sci. 2006;56 Suppl:S211]
