Question

c. Challenge: You are working with a neuronal cell line isolated from a human brain tumor. It appears to have a neuronal phenotype when grown in culture on laminin coated dishes but appears to have more of a typical round, small (3 to 5 micrometer) phenotype when grown on a standard, collagen-only coated dish or a poly-lysine coated (positive charge only - no ECM component) dish. Under all 3 cases the cells attach to the substrate. You suspect that the reason the neuronal phenotype is supported by the laminin coating is due to the ability of laminin, but not collagen or poly-lysine, to bind to the integrin receptors RGD binding domain thus triggering a molecular cascade that leads to the expression of the neuronal phenotype. How might you test this hypothesis

Answer 1

Answer:

This process can be performed using immunofluorescence analysis via antibodies.

Explanation:

To test for the hypothesis

To test for the hypothesis we have to  analyze whether the neuronal phenotype is due to the binding of laminin to integrins, and this will enable us to determine which integrins are abundantly expressed on the neuronal cell membrane. This process can be performed using immunofluorescence analysis via antibodies

Finally when no differentiation markers are expressed in the laminin coated plates with mutant cells we can now say that it expresses  integrins