EXPRESSION AND ACTIVITY OF MMP-2 IN THE PROCESS OF THE OPTIC LOBE LAMINATION

M. N DIGUILMI; V. SÁNCHEZ; F. FUENTES; G. SCICOLONE; M. RAPACIOLI; M. F. MOLINAS; V. FLORES

Pinamar, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; XX Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Neurochemistry (SAN); 2005

Panamerican Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PABMB), Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB), Sociedad Argentina de Neuroquímica (SAN)

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) constitute a family ofextracellular enzymes, which that participate in remodelling ofpericellular environment through the cleavage of ECM proteins.MMP-2 and MMP-9 present gelatinolytic activity that is involvedin tissue remodeling and development.In this work we investigate the pattern of gelatinases activity in thedeveloping chicken optic lobe (OL). The OL shows a corticalstructure organized in alternating neuronal and fibrous laminae. OLsfrom different embryonic ages (E) from E6 to newly hatched chicks(NH) were analized.We found MMP-2 but not MMP-9 activity in the developing OL.The zimographic activity pattern exhibits a significant increasebetween E12 and E14 and an abrupt decrease was observed fromE16 until NH. The in situ activity was mainly detected in ventricularzone, in the neuronal layers and significant activity was detected incells located around the radial glia. Topographic and temporal patternof MMP-2 activity and expression suggests that it´s related to cellmigration in the OL laminar organizationThis work was supported by grants from UBACYT and CONICET.Argentina.