Ganglioside expression during differentiation of chick retinal cells in vitro.

The neural retina has been widely used to study the developmental patterns of ganglioside metabolism. Recent findings about in vitro differentiating chick embryo retina cells showed that: a) GD3 and GD1a ganglioside patterns undergo the most dramatic changes; b) when the cells emit neurites, GD3 ganglioside and a group of complex gangliotetraosylgangliosides (GTOG) are transiently coexpressed; c) synchronized developmental phenomena are dissociated by anti-GM1 antibodies; d) GD3 remains as a major ganglioside in differentiated neurons, though it is almost not immunoexpressed; e) GTOG affect antibody binding to GD3; f) the content of gangliosides involved in neural differentiation modifies their immunostain localization on cell membrane; g) after exogenous GTOG uptake, immature neurons mimic GD3 immunofluorescent localization of mature cells; h) a subset of purified retinal ganglion cells express GTOG characteristic of mature neurons.