Cellular prion protein binds laminin and mediates neuritogenesis

Laminin (LN) plays a major role in neuronal differentiation, migration and survival. Here, we show that the cellular prion protein (PrPc) is a saturable, specific, high-affinity receptor for LN. The PrPc–LN interaction is involved in the neuritogenesis induced by NGF plus LN in the PC-12 cell line and the binding site resides in a carboxy-terminal decapeptide from the γ-1 LN chain. Neuritogenesis induced by LN or its γ-1-derived peptide in primary cultures from rat or either wild type or PrP null mice hippocampal neurons, indicated that PrPc is the main cellular receptor for that particular LN domain. These results point out to the importance of the PrPc–LN interaction for the neuronal plasticity mechanism.