Abnormal staggerer cerebellar cell interactions and survival in vitro.

Staggerer cerebellar cells in primary monolayer cell culture exhibit less initial clumping and unexpectedly longer overall survival than their wild-type counterparts when grown in medium containing fetal calf serum. Although polylysine coating of substratum both reduces the amount of initial clumping and increases the survival of normal cells, it does not completely eliminate the difference between mutant and control. Such cultures exhibit the same behavior only when culture conditions are changed to include supplementation with horse serum instead of fetal calf serum in addition to the substrate coating. These results are discussed in terms of the site of action of the mutation.