The adhesion molecule on glia (AMOG) incorporated into lipid vesicles binds to subpopulations of neurons.

To investigate the functional role of the novel adhesion molecule on glia (AMOG) in cell surface interactions, immunoaffinity-purified AMOG was incorporated into liposomes and measured for its ability to bind to cells in monolayer cultures. AMOG could be incorporated into liposomes in functionally active form after solubilization from membranes in 1% cholate buffer containing soybean lecithin, elution from the AMOG monoclonal antibody column with 4 M MgCl2, containing 1% octylglucoside, and removal of detergent for liposome incorporation by gel filtration. AMOG-containing liposomes bound to neurons, but not to oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, or fibroblasts in early postnatal cerebellar cultures. AMOG-containing liposomes also bound to the pheochromocytoma cell line PC12, but not to neurons in cultures of spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia after various times in vitro. Fab fragments of monoclonal AMOG antibodies, but not of L3 monoclonal antibodies directed against a carbohydrate structure on AMOG, inhibited binding of liposomes. Liposome binding was not reduced by preincubation of cerebellar cells with antibodies to AMOG, to the neuron adhesion molecule L1, the neural cell adhesion molecule N-CAM, or the L3 carbohydrate structure, nor with 2 monoclonal antibodies reacting with neuronal cell surface glycoproteins related to the L2/HNK-1 family. These results show that AMOG is indeed a ligand in adhesion and binds to particular subpopulations of neurons in L1- and N-CAM-independent mechanisms.