Attachment of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurones from 3-month-old (young adult) and 24-month-old (aged) mice to the following substrates was evaluated after 6 h in culture: (1) poly-l-lysine (PL), (2) PL + type I collagen (CL-I), (3) PL + type IV collagen (CL-IV), (4) PL + laminin (LM) and (5) PL + fibronectin (FN). In the young adult mice, each substrate coated onto PL, significantly increased the ratio of attachment, compared with PL alone. In the aged mice, CL-I and LM, but not CL-N or FN improved the attachment. There was no difference in cell survival or neurite extension after 48 h in culture between the two groups of mice. These results suggest that ageing causes selective changes of the neuronal cell-surface receptors respective to extracellular matrix proteins such as CL-IV and FN. © Rapid Communications of Oxford Ltd.