Friedman W J, Black I B, Kaplan D R
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Neuroscience. 1998 May;84(1):101-14. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4522(97)00526-5.
The neurotrophin family of trophic factors influences survival and function of neurons in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Critical information regarding physiological function of these factors may be gained by examining their localization in the brain. Here we report the immunocytochemical characterization of antisera directed against brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, and neurotrophin 4/5. These antisera provide important tools to localize the bioactive neurotrophin proteins. Correspondence between protein distribution and previously determined messenger RNA expression was observed in some brain regions, such as hippocampus and cortex. However, neurotrophin proteins were also detected in neurons which have no apparent corresponding messenger RNA, indicating that the proteins may be transported from the sites of synthesis in certain populations. Immunocytochemical double-labelling analysis also indicated that a sub-population of neurotrophin-positive cells were labelled with an astrocyte marker (glial fibrillary acidic protein) as well, demonstrating that trophic molecules are localized to glial cells as well as neurons in vivo. Thus, the use of antisera specific for individual neurotrophic factors has indicated potential cellular sites of action.
神经营养因子家族的营养因子影响外周和中枢神经系统中神经元的存活和功能。通过检查它们在大脑中的定位，可以获得有关这些因子生理功能的关键信息。在此，我们报告针对脑源性神经营养因子、神经营养素-3和神经营养素4/5的抗血清的免疫细胞化学特征。这些抗血清为定位生物活性神经营养蛋白提供了重要工具。在一些脑区，如海马体和皮质，观察到蛋白质分布与先前确定的信使RNA表达之间存在对应关系。然而，在没有明显相应信使RNA的神经元中也检测到了神经营养蛋白，这表明这些蛋白质可能从某些群体中的合成部位转运而来。免疫细胞化学双标记分析还表明，一部分神经营养蛋白阳性细胞也被星形胶质细胞标记物（胶质纤维酸性蛋白）标记，这表明在体内，营养分子不仅定位于神经元，也定位于胶质细胞。因此，使用针对个别神经营养因子的抗血清已经表明了潜在的细胞作用位点。
