A monoclonal antibody that recognizes ganglioside GD1b in the rat central nervous system.
A monoclonal antibody (MAb), generated by immunizing BALB/c mice with homogenized bovine retinal tissue, was specific to ganglioside GD1b incorporated into liposome membranes. The antibody (MAb-5G6), classified as IgM, immunostained intensely the perikaryon and processes of motoneurons in the cranial motor nuclei and spinal cord. Spinal and trigeminal ganglion cells were also immunopositive to the MAb. Some fiber tract systems, such as the spinal and mesencephalic trigeminal tracts, the solitary tract and the posterior funiculus, were also immunoreactive to the MAb. These findings suggest that MAb-5G6 labeled specifically neurons with axons extending outside of the central nervous system as a peripheral nerve. The immunoreactive substances were visualized under electron microscopy just beneath the postsynaptic membrane and just inside the plasmalemma of the thick dendrites. No axon terminal was immunolabeled by the MAb. In the rat embryos, immunoreactivity to MAb-5G6 was found in the dorsal and ventral root fibers on the 15th embryonic day (E15). However, cell bodies of the spinal ganglion cells and motoneurons were immunostained by MAb-5G6 at a later stage (E20). The ventral commissure fibers in the floor plate of the spinal cord were transiently immunolabeled during E13-15.
Maehara
T
T
Third Department of Anatomy, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
Ono
K
K
Tsutsui
K
K
Watarai
S
S
Yasuda
T
T
Inoue
H
H
Tokunaga
A
A
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D002417:Cattle; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000276:immunology; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000276:immunology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000276:immunology
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D005732:Gangliosides; C033851:ganglioside, GD1b