Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Nov:103 Suppl 1:56-64.
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2007.04716.x.

Dissecting polysialic acid and NCAM functions in brain development

Herbert Hildebrandt  1 , Martina Mühlenhoff, Birgit Weinhold, Rita Gerardy-Schahn
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Dissecting polysialic acid and NCAM functions in brain development

Herbert Hildebrandt et al. J Neurochem. 2007 Nov.
Free article

Abstract

The unique modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) by polysialic acid (polySia) is tightly associated with nervous system development and plasticity. The prevailing view that this large carbohydrate polymer acts as an anti-adhesive factor seems straightforward at first sight. However, during almost 25 years of polySia research it became increasingly clear that the impact of polySia on cell surface interactions can not be explained by one unifying mechanism. Recent progress in the generation of mouse models, which partially or completely lack polySia due to ablation of one or both of the two polySia synthesizing enzymes, provides novel insights into the function of this unique post-translational modification. The present review is focused on a phenotype comparison between the newly established mouse strains which combine polySia-deficiency with normal NCAM expression and the well-characterized NCAM negative mouse model. Analysis of shared and individual phenotypes allows a clear distinction between NCAM and polySia functions and revealed that polySia plays a vital role as a specific control element of NCAM-mediated interactions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

-