Dräger U C, Hofbauer A
Nature. 1984;309(5969):624-6. doi: 10.1038/309624a0.
Neurofilaments ( NFs ) consist of three protein subunits with apparent molecular weights of 68,000 ( 68K ), 145K and 200K , which are found closely associated in most but not all locations in the nervous system. One of these exceptions is the inner retina of the mouse, where antibodies to 145K NFs label large ganglion cells throughout the extent of the cells, while antibodies to 200K NFs label only more distal portions of the optic axons but usually fail to label the ganglion cell somata and proximal axons. Very rarely, however, and more often in old mice, anti- 200K NF antibodies do label a ganglion cell completely. To determine whether these rare, completely labelled cells reflect a pathological alteration, we cut the optic axons, and report here that after a few days some of the axotomized cells could be labelled completely, in a Golgi-like fashion, by anti- 200K NF antibodies. These cells seem to represent the population that forms the projection to the bulk of the lateral geniculate nucleus, as suggested by their size, distribution and projection pattern. Hence, antibodies to the heavy NF subunit in combination with lesions may allow selective retrograde tracing of a subpopulation of ganglion cells, and such antibodies can be used to detect damage in NF-rich neurones at a very early stage, long before they eventually degenerate.
神经丝（NFs）由三种蛋白质亚基组成，其表观分子量分别为68,000（68K）、145K和200K，在神经系统的大多数但并非所有部位，它们紧密相连。其中一个例外是小鼠的视网膜内层，针对145K神经丝的抗体在整个细胞范围内标记大型神经节细胞，而针对200K神经丝的抗体仅标记视神经轴突的更远端部分，但通常无法标记神经节细胞的胞体和近端轴突。然而，非常罕见的是，在老年小鼠中更常见的是，抗200K神经丝抗体确实能完全标记一个神经节细胞。为了确定这些罕见的、完全标记的细胞是否反映了一种病理改变，我们切断了视神经轴突，并在此报告，几天后，一些轴突切断的细胞可以被抗200K神经丝抗体以类似高尔基染色的方式完全标记。从这些细胞的大小、分布和投射模式来看，它们似乎代表了向外侧膝状体大部分区域投射的细胞群体。因此，针对重链神经丝亚基的抗体与损伤相结合，可能允许对神经节细胞亚群进行选择性逆行追踪，并且这种抗体可用于在富含神经丝的神经元最终退化之前的很早阶段检测其损伤。
