PSA-NCAM is highly expressed in the entire cell body and growing processes of D cells (precursors in the generation of new granule neurons in the dentate gyrus)
Hippocampal expression of PSA-NCAM throughout life in humans closely resembles that of the rat. Expression largely contained to granule cells of the dentate gyrus and their mossy fiber axons, with large reductions in expression with age
Newly generated granule cells in the dentate gyrus express a highly polysialylated form of NCAM, involved in the migration of immature neurons from the subgranular zone into the GCL