Rat cerebellar cells in tissue culture. I. An immunological marker for brain vascular endothelial cells (antibodies from the sera of patients with Chagas' disease).

Immunohistochemical studies showed that immunoglobulins from sera of patients with Chagas' disease bind specifically to endothelial cells in cryostat sections of the rodent brain. In monolayer cultures of 8-day-old rat cerebella both surface and internal labelling of the endothelial cells was detected. The contrast immune sera raised against cold-insoluble globulin (which cross-reacts with fibronectin) also labelled the surface of fibroblasts as well as the endothelial cells. It would appear that Chagasic immunoglobulins are a useful marker for endothelial cells in neural cell culture.