Production of anti-polyubiquitin and anti-ubiquitin carboxyl terminal hydrolase antibodies and immunohistochemically assessment of them on brain sections of Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body disease.

Several ubiquitin (ub) moieties are lined up head to tail by function of class III genes which code for polyubiquitin proteins. Ubiquitin carboxyl terminal hydrolyses (UCTH) disassemble the polyubiquitin chains. In our study we synthetically produced polyubiquitin (last six amino acids of ub is linked with first five amino acids of ub, UBI(71-76 + 1-5)) and purified anti-UCTH from human brain to produce antibodies against them. These antibodies were used on Alzheimer's and Lewy body disease brains. Anti-UBI(71-76 + 1-5) antibody stained plaque neurites of both disease brains. Anti-UCTH antibody showed reactivity with cortical Lewy bodies within the neurons and bulbous neurites of Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body disease brains.