Syndecan, a cell surface proteoglycan, exhibits a molecular polymorphism during lung development.

Syndecan, a cell surface proteoglycan, binds multiple extracellular ligands, and is developmentally regulated in epithelial and mesenchymal tissues. The branching morphogenesis of embryonic lung is dependent on epithelial-mesenchymal interactions and, based on studies with inhibitors, on proteoglycan synthesis. To assess the role of syndecan in lung development, we examined the structure and distribution of syndecan in Day 12 to 18 embryonic mouse lungs using monoclonal antibody 281-2 for histology, immunopurification, and Western blots. At Day 12, syndecan localizes mainly on epithelial cell surfaces, but also stains mesenchymal cells near the epithelium. By Day 14, syndecan is expressed predominantly on epithelia and by Day 18, syndecan remains on airway epithelia but is absent from the alveolar pneumocytes. This change in expression correlates with a change in syndecan structure; the relative mass of syndecan gradually falls from Day 12 to Day 18 without a change in relative mass of the core protein. The difference is due to a developmental reduction in the size of the glycosaminoglycan chains; heparan sulfate chains on syndecan from Day 14 lungs were nearly twofold larger than those from Day 18 lungs. Newly synthesized syndecan in the lungs had the same relative mass as total syndecan, indicating that the change in mass is due to a developmental change in the nature of the syndecan synthesized. The alteration in syndecan structure could alter the function of this proteoglycan during lung development.