The strong enhancement of neurite outgrowth by lowering
GFAP was associated with increased expression of
astrocytic laminin. In particular, neurites were strongly
co-localized with high-density laminin in all experimental
groups (Fig. 4A–C). These findings extend the qualitative
associations between GFAP, laminin and neurite outgrowth
[18,19,23,29] by defining the first quantitative relationships
between cellular GFAP, local laminin density and neurite
outgrowth (Figs. 2C and 3F). As further evidence for the
direct role of laminin in neurite outgrowth, in “wounding-ina-
dish”, the immunoneutralization of laminin blocked sprouting,
whereas the addition of laminin enhanced sprouting [6].
Similarly, in brain slice cultures, antisense laminin-1 attenuated
sprouting