Chicken Polyclonal Antibody to GFAP Cat# CPCA-GFAP

      Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) is a major CNS protein which runs on SDS-PAGE as a ~55kDa protein, usually associated with somewhat lower molecule weight bands which are alternate transcripts from the single gene. GFAP is strongly and specifically expressed in astrocytes and certain other glia in the central nervous system, in satellite cells in peripheral ganglia, and in non-myelinating Schwann cells in peripheral nerves and is also a component of neural stem cells (1-3). 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 (4). Neural stem cells frequently strongly express GFAP though they lose this if they develop into neurons or oligodendrocytes. Finally, Alexander disease was recently shown to be caused by point mutations in the protein coding region of the GFAP gene (5). All forms of Alexander disease are characterized by the presence of Rosenthal fibers, which are GFAP containing cytoplasmic inclusions found in astrocytes. Antibodies to GFAP are therefore very useful as a marker of glial cells in central and peripheral nerve system, as well as of developing neural stem cells.

Chromogenic Immunostaining of a formalin fixed paraffin embedded human cerebellum section with chicken pAb to GFAP, CPCA-GFAP, dilution 1:10,000, detected with DAB (brown) using the Vector Elite ABC-HRP detection and reagents with citrate buffer retrieval. Hematoxylin (blue) was used as the counterstain. The GFAP antibody detects the core of processes of astrocytes and Bergman glia within the granular and molecular layers. Mouse select image for larger view.



Immunofluorescent analysis of cortical neuron-glial cell culture from E20 rat costained with chicken pAb to Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein-GFAP, CPCA-GFAP, dilution 1:2,000 in red, and mouse mAb to MAP-τ (tau) MCA-5B10, dilution 1:2,000 in green. The blue is DAPI staining of nuclear DNA. The GFAP labels astroglial cells, while the MAP-τ antibody stains neuronal cell perikarya, dendrites and axons. Mouse select image for larger view.



Above is an image made by Dr. Fatimeh Shaerzadeh, working in the lab of Professor Habibeh Khoshbouei in the McKnight Brain Institute. A section of mouse frontal cerebral cortex was stained with EnCor chicken polyclonal antibody to GFAP CPCA-GFAP in green and DNA in blue. The fibrous component of the processes of astroctyes are clearly revealed. Mouse select on image for larger view.

We deposit images to Wikipedia which can be generally used freely under the Creative Commons license- See link here. The same antibody was used to generate the key "Astrocyte" image on Wikipedia, see below and here.



In this case the specimen was costained for GFAP in red and vimentin in green using our mouse monoclonal antibody MCA-2A52. Since GFAP and vimentin copolymerize into intermediate filaments in developing astrocytes, the cell appears yellow as the red and green signals perfectly overlap.

This antibody has been on the market for many years and sold through EnCor and our many OEM partners. Here is a CiteAb link to peer reviewed publications which use this antibody obtained directly from EnCor, here.

Many more peer-reviewed publications making use of it can be found by searching Google Scholar for "CPCA-GFAP" or, if you are viewing this online, simply by selecting here. The antibody has also been sold through many more OEM partners but references are difficult to find on-line if the particular vendor does not use our CPCA-GFAP catalog number.

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. Yen SH, Fields KL. Antibodies to neurofilament, glial filament, and fibroblast intermediate filament proteins bind to different cell types of the nervous system. J Cell Biol. 88:115-26 (1981).
3. Shaw G, Osborn M, Weber K. An immunofluorescence microscopical study of the neurofilament triplet proteins, vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein within the adult rat brain. Eur. J. Cell Biol. 26:68-82 (1981).
4. Fitch MT, Silver J. CNS injury, glial scars, and inflammation: Inhibitory extracellular matrices and regeneration failure. Exp. Neurol. 209:294-301 (2008).
5. Brenner M, et al. Mutations in GFAP, encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein, are associated with Alexander disease. Nat. Genet. 27:117-20 (2001).

The antibody has been sold through many OEM partners, and peer-reviewed publications making use of it can be found by searching Google Scholar for "CPCA-GFAP" or, if you are viewing this online, simply by selecting this link.