An immunohistochemical technique with a series of monoclonal antibodies to gangliosides: their differential distribution in the rat cerebellum.
Gangliosides, sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids, are normal membrane constituents and are highly expressed in the vertebral central nervous system. Owing to their topological localization on the outer surface of neural plasma membranes and their unique chemical structure, gangliosides have been implicated in a variety of phenomena. It was, however, difficult to study the localization of gangliosides in the central nervous system because of the lack of useful probes for gangliosides. We recently established an improved method for the generation of mouse MAbs to gangliosides by immunizing C3H/HeN mice with purified gangliosides. Using this method, we succeeded in generating a large number of the MAbs specific for gangliosides. These MAbs enabled us to determine the localization of gangliosides in the rat brain. We previously described the differential distribution patterns of gangliosides in the brain regions by an immunohistochemical technique with MAbs. In the present paper, we describe an immunofluorescence technique for the detection of ganglioside distribution in the postnatal rat cerebellar cortex in detail. The principles of immunohistochemistry have been described in several review articles.
Kotani
M
M
Department of Tumor Immunology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Japan.
Tai
T
T
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000378:metabolism; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D005732:Gangliosides