The monoclonal antibody Alz-50, used to reveal cytoskeletal changes in Alzheimer's disease, also reacts with a large subpopulation of somatostatin neurons in the normal human hypothalamus and adjoining areas.
The monoclonal antibody Alz-50 is directed against Alzheimer's disease-related modified tau proteins and reveals cytoskeletal changes, i.e. neurofibrillary tangles and dystrophic neurites. The present study shows that, in the hypothalamus of non-demented control subjects, this same antibody gives a distinctive staining pattern of a subpopulation of somatostatin neurons and beaded fibres. Furthermore, Alz-50 occasionally recognizes somatostatin-containing cell bodies and dystrophic neurite-like fibers in the (neuritic) senile plaques of AD patients. These observations have direct consequences for the interpretation of Alz-50 staining in diagnostic usage and for the assessment of Alzheimer's disease-like changes induced by beta-amyloid in experimental animal brains. On dot spotting, Alz-50 was found to bind to a number of fragments from the somatostatin precursor, of which somatostatin 15-28 stained best. Preadsorption of Alz-50 by somatostatin 15-28, as well as other specificity tests, failed, however, to provide any clue to the nature of the unknown compound(s) stained in the control hypothalamus.
van de Nes
J A
JA
Graduate School Neurosciences Amsterdam, Free University Hospital, The Netherlands.
Sluiter
A A
AA
Pool
C W
CW
Kamphorst
W
W
Ravid
R
R
Swaab
D F
DF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000941:Antigens; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000502:physiology*
C056167:Alzheimer's disease antigen; D000941:Antigens; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D013004:Somatostatin