Cholinergic neuronotrophic factors: V. Segregation of survival- and neurite-promoting activities in heart-conditioned media.

Chick embryo ciliary ganglionic (CG) neurons will not survive in monolayer culture unless special supplements are provided in the medium. We have previously reported that two such supplements, chick embryo extract and medium conditioned over chick heart cell cultures (HCM) share the capacity to support survival of CG neurons but differ in their neurite-promoting effects. Thus, embryo extract elicited neuritic outgrowth only on collagen and HCM did so only on polyornithine (PORN), although both agents supported neuronal survival on both substrata. We report here the separation and quantitation of two different HCM components. One is a trophic agent which supports survival of CG neurons on either collagen or PORN, but does not seem to adsorb to either substratum. The other is a neurite-promoting factor (NPF) which adsorbs to PORN but not to collagen. Overnight incubation of HCM on PORN yields two products: (i) an NPF-deprived HCM, that has no neurite-promoting activity and (ii) an NPF-coated PORN, that promotes neuritic development of CG neurons trophically supported by either embryo extract or NPF-deprived HCM. CG requirements for neuritic outgrowth were also examined in explant cultures. No neurites were present after 24 h when explants were cultured in plain medium on PORN. Very extensive radial neuritic outgrowth was observed when explants were cultured in HCM on fresh PORN, or in NPF-deprived HCM on NPF-derivatized PORN. In contrast to what happens with dissociated cells, neuritic outgrowth was also present when ganglia were cultured in NPF-deprived HCM on fresh PORN. However, neurites grew radially only to a limited extent, after which they adopted a circular pattern grossly concentric to the ganglionic explant. It is proposed that explanted ciliary ganglia produce a neurite-promoting factor that coats the PORN substratum in widening circles.