Catalogue# MCA-5C10: Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) Monoclonal Antibody 5C10
The Immunogen: Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) was discovered by Amico Bignami and coworkers as a major fibrous protein of multiple sclerosis plaques (1). It was subsequently found to be a member of the 10nm or intermediate filament protein family, specifically the intermediate filament protein family Class III, which also includes peripherin, desmin and vimentin. The GFAP protein runs on gels as a ~55kDa protein, usually associated with lower molecule weight bands which are thought to be proteolytic fragments and alternate transcripts from the single gene. GFAP is strongly and specifically expressed in astrocytes and certain other astroglia in the central nervous system, in satellite cells in peripheral ganglia, and in non-myelinating Schwann cells in peripheral nerves. Astrocytes respond to many damage and disease states resulting in "astrogliosis" or the presence of a "glial response". GFAP antibodies are widely used to see the reactive astrocytes which form part of this response, since reactive astrocytes stain much more strongly with GFAP antibodies than normal astrocytes. GFAP also forms a major component of the so-called glial scar, an astrocyte rich structure apparently forming part of the barrier to nerve fiber regeneration following damage in the central nervous system. Neural stem cells frequently strongly express GFAP. Antibodies to GFAP are therefore very useful as markers of normal and reactive astrocytic cells and neural stem cells. Finally, Alexander's disease was recently shown to be caused by point mutations in protein coding region of the GFAP gene (2). All forms of Alexander disease are characterized by the presence of Rosenthal fibers, which are GFAP containing cytoplasmic inclusions found in astrocytes.
Left: Strip blot of rat spinal cord protein extract stained with MCA-5C10. A prominent band at about 50kDa corresponds to the major isoform of GFAP. Right: Mixed neuron-glial cultures stained with MCA-5C10, our monoclonal antibody to GFAP (red) and chicken polylclonal antibody to neurofilament NF-L CPCA-NF-L (green). The GFAP antibody stains the network of astrocytes in these cultures, while the NF-L antibody stains neurons and their processes. The blue channel shows the localization of DNA.
Antibody characteristics: MCA-5C10 is a IgG1 class antibody with a k light chain and was raised against a preparation of purified pig spinal cord GFAP. It reacts with GFAP from human, cow, pig, mouse, rat and all other mammalian and avian species tested to date. It is strong and clean on western blots and works well on frozen sections, cells in tissue culture and on formalin fixed histological sections.
Suggestions for use: >Antibody is supplied as Integra CL-350 flask material, which is concentrated tissue culture supernatant. For immunofluorescence use MCA-5C10 diluted to 1/500. For IF of mammalian cells, try MCA-5C10 at 1/500. For western blots try MCA-5C10 at dilutions of 1/5,000. Store at 4°C short term or -20°C long term. Avoid repeated freezing and thawing.
Limitations: This product is for research use only and is not approved for use in humans or in clinical diagnosis.
References:
1. Bignami A, Eng LF, Dahl D, Uyeda CT. Localization of the glial fibrillary acidic protein in astrocytes by immunofluorescence. Brain Res. 43:429-35 1972.
2. Brenner M, Johnson AB, Boespflug-Tanguy O, Rodriguez D, Goldman JE, Messing A. Mutations in GFAP, encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein, are associated with Alexander disease. Nat Genet 27:117-20 2001
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Availability and Price: Available for shipping now, $200 US per aliquot of 100 microliters of ascites fluid, enough for hundreds of experiments. For order form press here