@article{3c5b6d6f79ea4f3ba417811b6cbe721e,
title = "Ataxia and abnormal cerebellar microorganization in mice with ablated contactin gene expression",
abstract = "Axon guidance and target recognition depend on neuronal cell surface receptors that recognize and elicit selective growth cone responses to guidance cues in the environment. Contactin, a cell adhesion/recognition molecule of the immunoglobulin gene superfamily, regulates axon growth and fasciculation in vitro, but its role in vivo is unknown. To assess its function in the developing nervous system, we have ablated contactin gene expression in mice. Contactin(-/-) mutants displayed a severe ataxic phenotype consistent with defects in the cerebellum and survived only until postnatal day 18. Analysis of the contactin(-/-) mutant cerebellum revealed defects in granule cell axon guidance and in dendritic projections from granule and Golgi cells. These results demonstrate that contactin controls axonal and dendritic interactions of cerebellar interneurons and contributes to cerebellar microorganization.",
author = "Berglund, {Erik O.} and Murai, {Keith K.} and Barbara Fredette and Gabriela Sekerkov{\'a} and Beatrice Marturano and Lynne Weber and Enrico Mugnaini and Barbara Ranscht",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Carol Mason (Columbia University, New York, NY) for many valuable discussions and Edward Monosov (Burnham Institute) for guidance in confocal microscopy. Mary E. T. Boyle contributed to the discussion of the model. Gianfranco Gennarini (Bari, Italy), William Stallcup (Burnham Institute), and Lester Binder (Northwestern University, Chicago, IL) kindly supplied antibodies to mouse contactin/F3, rat L1, and MAP2, respectively. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (IBN 9723934 to B. R.), the March of Dimes (FY-0265 to B. R.), and the National Institutes of Health (NS 38297 and initially HD 25938 to B. R.; and NS 09904 to E. M.). E. O. B. was supported by the Swedish Society for Medical Research, the Swedish Medical Association, and the Medical Research Council of Sweden. K. K. M. and L. W. are students of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at UCSD.",
year = "1999",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1016/S0896-6273(00)81126-5",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "24",
pages = "739--750",
journal = "Neuron",
issn = "0896-6273",
publisher = "Cell Press",
number = "3",
}