The Neurotrophic properties of GM1 oligosaccharide: a new promising story

Experimental evidence, both in vitro and in vivo, highlight the neurotrophic and neurodifferentiative effects of ganglioside GM1. So far, the molecular mechanism underlining the GM1 neuro activities is still unknown. In order to clarify the molecular mechanism by which GM1 exerts its neurotrophic action we investigated the role of its oligosaccharide portion. GM1 oligosaccharide was added to the culture medium of neuronal cells. To study the neurodifferentiation, cells were followed over the time to assess both morphological parameters and biochemical markers. In murine neuroblastoma cell lines we found that the oligosaccharide chain of GM1 is directly involved in the processes of neuronal differentiation by inducing TrkA-MAPK pathway activation. In this cell line, the GM1 oligosaccharide chain and TrkA receptor showed a direct interaction at the plasma membrane level. Using mouse primary neurons, we highlighted that GM1 oligosaccharideisabletoinfluencethedifferentiationprocesses byacceleratingtheneuronaldifferentiationfrombothmorphological and biochemical view. We surmise that the neurotrophic effect of GM1 is due to a direct interaction between the oligosaccharide chain and TrkA receptor. Trying to define the molecular mechanism of GM1, we have potentially found a new neurotrophic player, which invitro is able to influence differentiation of mice primary neurons.