Laminin induces acetylcholine receptor aggregation on cultured myotubes and enhances the receptor aggregation activity of a neuronal factor.

The effect of several basement membrane components on the aggregation of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors on cultured myotubes was studied. Cultures were incubated for 16 to 24 hr with laminin, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan, collagen types IV and V, or fibronectin, alone, or together with medium conditioned by NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma hybrid cells (NCM). The number of ACh receptor aggregates per myotube was assayed by fluorescence microscopy of cultures stained with tetramethylrhodamine-labeled alpha-bungarotoxin. Laminin induced ACh receptor aggregation on primary rat myotubes and on myotubes formed by G8-1 clonal rat muscle cells. Laminin enhanced the receptor-aggregating activity of NCM in a concentration-dependent manner (0.6 to 6.0 micrograms/ml) and the number of aggregates formed in the presence of laminin and NCM together was greater than the sum of the aggregates induced by NCM and laminin separately. The aggregation factor in NCM is probably not laminin, since less than 10 ng/ml of laminin-like immunoreactivity was detected in NCM, and antiserum against laminin blocked the effects of laminin but had little effect on NCM aggregation activity. Collagen type V enhanced the receptor aggregation activity of NCM, but less strongly than laminin, and had little or no effect by itself. The other basement membrane components did not induce receptor aggregation or enhance the effect of NCM. Experiments in which ACh receptors were labeled before exposure of cultures to NCM and laminin indicated that laminin enhanced the rearrangement of receptors at the cell surface. Immunofluorescence microscopy indicated that laminin binds to the myotubes within 30 min and forms patches on the cell surface over a period of hours. Laminin bound to the myotube surface enhanced receptor aggregation as well as laminin continuously present in the culture medium. The results suggest the possibility that laminin could enhance the receptor aggregation activity of a neuronal factor(s) released at the developing neuromuscular junction.