Heparin induction of the β-amyloid precursor protein (AβPP) in a neural cell line is regulated by cell confluency state

Abstract

The β-amyloid precursor protein (AβPP) is a heparin-binding glycoprotein which plays a role in the mediation of neural cell adhesion. Mouse neuro-2A neuroblastoma cells cultured on a collagen substrate generally expressed significantly higher levels of AβPP than those grown on tissue-cultureplastic. The addition of heparin to non-confluent cell cultures resulted in decreased AβPP levels, this being independent of the culture substratum. Heparin, however, increased AβPP levels in confluent cells piated on tissue-culture plastic but had no effect on collagen-based cells. These results suggest that the effect of heparin on neural AβPP levels is influenced both by the cellular interaction with components of the extracellular matrix and also the cell confluency state.

Key Words:

• AβPP
• ADHESION
• COLLAGEN
• HEPARIN
• ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE