HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Tissue distribution of perlecan domains III and V during embryonic and fetal human development

Matthias Roediger, Jenny Kruegel, Nicolai Miosge and Nikolaus Gersdorff

Department of Prosthodontics, Tissue Regeneration Work Group, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Germany.

Offprint requests to: Nikolaus Gersdorff, Department of Prosthodontics, Tissue Regeneration Work Group, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, 37075 Goettingen, Germany. e-mail: ngersdo@gwdg.de


Summary. A major component of basement membranes (BMs) is perlecan, a five-domain heparan sulphate proteoglycan. During murine embryogenesis, nearly all BMs of mesenchymal origin express perlecan, and it is believed to participate in the supramolecular assembly of BMs. However, the distribution of perlecan in human embryonic and fetal tissues is widely unknown, except for cartilage anlagen of developing extremities and the fetal spine. Clinical syndromes, caused by perlecan-associated mutations or gene-defects, suggest its multifunctional involvement during human development. Here we reveal the immunohistochemistry of perlecan domains III and V during human development from gestational weeks (gw) 6 to 12 in basement membrane zones (BMZs) of the developing brain, nervous system, blood vessels, skin, lung, heart, kidney, liver, intestine and skeletal system. Interestingly, a difference in the distribution of the two perlecan domains was found in the endoneurium of ganglia. Domain III is strongly present from gw 6 onwards, while domain V shows attenuated expression at this stage and has been detected abundantly only from gw 8 onwards, possibly indicating vascularization of the endoneurium during this early stage. We found perlecan to be present particularly at those stages of human development where epithelial-mesenchymal interactions occur.
Histol Histopathol 24, 859-868 (2009)

Key words: Perlecan, Basement membrane, Human embryogenesis, Immunohistochemistry

DOI: 10.14670/HH-24.859