Detection of Disialoganglioside in Rat Cerebellar Cortex by Light and Electron Microscopy.

Gangliosides have been implicated in various neural activities, but their distribution or localization, especially at the subcellular level, has not fully been elucidated. Using immunohistochemistry on sections of rat cerebellum with a monoclonal antibody specific for disialoganglioside(GD2), we found that GD2 was expressed on the plasma membrane of Purkinje cell bodies and dendrites. Intermediate stacks of the Golgi apparatus of the Purkinje cell were also stained. In the neuropil surrounding Purkinje cell bodies and dendrites, there existed both immunohistochemically positive and negative nerve processes. In the positive processes, synaptic membranes and vesicles were stained. Granule cells and parallel fibers were negative. Golgi cells in the granular layer were also negative. In the molecular layer, basket cells and outer stellate cells were negative. In the cerebellar cortex, GD2 was restricted to Purkinje cells and some of the nerve processes and synapses adjacent to Purkinje cell bodies and dendrites. Our findings that there are GD2−positive as well as −negative afferent fibers and synapses relating to Purkinje cells suggest a possible role of GD2 in some specific neural transmission.