Ultrastructural localization of neurofilament proteins in aluminum-induced neurofibrillary tangles and rat cerebellum by immunoperoxidase labeling.
The localization of neurofilament proteins was investigated at the light and electron microscopic levels by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase procedure in the motor neurons of rabbit spinal cord accumulating bundles of filaments (neurofibrillary tangles) consequent to the intrathecal injection of aluminum and in rat cerebellum. As indicated by immunoaffinity chromatography the antisera used in this study reacted with 72,000- and 150,000-dalton polypeptides of the mammalian neurofilament "triplet". In the motor neurons of rabbit spinal cord neurofibrillary tangles were prominently stained. Regions of cytoplasm surrounded by the tangles were negative. In the cerebellar cortex the reaction product was confined to structures containing large amounts of neurofilaments, particularly the terminal branches of basket axons surrounding Purkinje cells. The absence of staining in the outer molecular layer containing processes with other types of filaments, that is, Bergmann glia (gliofilaments) and thin parallel fibers (microtubules), served as control for the specificity of the reaction. In both spinal cord and cerebellum the reaction product appeared as elongated strands. In spinal cord, filaments cut in cross-section had the appearance of peripherally stained circular structures approximately 250 A in diameter.
D000535:Aluminum / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009454:Neurofibrils / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000648:ultrastructure*
D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000535:Aluminum