title: Distinct subcellular localization of beta-tubulin epitopes in the adult mouse brain.
abstract: A panel of monoclonal antibodies specific of alpha-tubulin (TU-01, TU-09) and beta-tubulin (TU-06, TU-13) subunits was used to study the location of N-terminal structural domains of tubulin in adult mouse brain. The specificity of antibodies was confirmed b immunoblotting experiments. Immunohistochemical staining of vibratome sections from cerebral cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, and corpus callosum showed that antibodies TU-01, TU-09, and TU-13 reacted with neuronal and glial cells and their processes, whereas the TU-06 antibody stained only the perikarya. Dendrites and axons were either unstained or their staining was very weak. As the TU-06 epitope is located on the N-terminal structural domain of beta-tubulin, the observed staining pattern cannot be interpreted as evidence of a distinct subcellular localization of beta-tubulin isotypes or known post-translational modifications. The limited distribution of the epitope could, rather, reflect differences between the conformations of tubulin molecules in microtubules of somata and neurites or, alternatively, a specific masking of the corresponding region on the N-terminal domain of beta-tubulin by interacting protein(s) in dendrites and axons.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nováková
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Riederer
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Viklický
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dráber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000737:chemistry; D014404:Tubulin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D014404:Tubulin