Neuronal polarity refers to the compartmentalization of neurons into distinct functional and structural domains.  The development of distinct axonal and dendritic domains is essential for many fundamental neural functions such as axonal pathfinding, synapse formation, and synaptic transmission.  A central mechanism underlying this functional polarity is the segregation of membrane proteins to one domain or the other.  The mechanisms underlying the polarization of axonal proteins are not well understood due to the limited number of proteins studied thus far.  To help identify additional axonal proteins using a more global approach, we have isolated membrane proteins from axons emanating from explants of embryonic chick forebrain cultured on laminin-coated coverslips.  When cultured from embryonic day 8 or 9 chicks approximately 15% of the explants develop a circumferential array of axons relatively devoid of migrating neurons or glial cells.  Cell bodies were microdissected from the explants leaving the axons and proteins were harvested from both of these fractions.  Protein derived from axon-rich fractions of multiple experiments were pooled and compared on two-dimensional gels to proteins harvested from the cell body-rich fractions to identify novel proteins that are expressed more highly in axons.

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