Ultrastructural Localization of Nerve Growth Factor Receptor in Acoustic Neurinoma

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Abstract
Light and electron microscopic immunohistochemical studies on nerve growth factor (NGF) receptors in acoustic neurinoma cases were made using a monoclonal antibody to human NGF receptor. Immunoreactivity of the NGF receptor was found exclusively on the cytoplasmic membrane of schwannoma cells. Reaction product was highly concentrated at the interdigitated distal end of the cell processes, but it was discontinuous in the perinuclear area of the cell body. Basal lamina was located outside the immunoreacted cytoplasmic membrane of the cell body, but it was not observed at the tip of the interdigitated cell processes. These findings suggest that NGF receptor expression has some relationship with the formation of interdigitated schwannoma cell processes. Other possibilities for the functional significance of the schwannoma NGF receptor are also discussed.