Association of BEN glycoprotein expression with climbing fiber axonogenesis in the avian cerebellum.

In a previous study, we have identified an avian 100 kDa membrane glycoprotein that we called BEN and demonstrated that it is transiently present in the CNS and PNS on the cell somas and axons of neurons that establish the peripheral neuronal circuitry. We report here that in the developing chick cerebellar system BEN is selectively expressed on fibers whose ingrowth and synaptogenesis pattern corresponds to that described for climbing fibers. We have constructed quail-chick chimeras in which the chick mesencephalon and anterior metencephalon were replaced by their quail counterparts, thus generating a cerebellum and mesencephalon exclusively composed of quail cells whereas the main nuclei emitting afferent fibers to the cerebellar cortex were of chick origin. Then, using species-specific monoclonal antibodies we were able to show in double staining experiments that BEN protein is specifically expressed on fibers arising from the inferior olivary nucleus. The spatiotemporal pattern of BEN expression on the climbing fibers leads us to propose that this molecule is associated with the growth of these fibers and with the establishment of synapses between them and the Purkinje cell dendritic tree.