Monoclonal antibodies to human hypoglossal nucleus which stain neurons and astrocytes in normal brains and brains from cases of Alzheimer-type dementia

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies were raised to membranes of hypoglossal nuclei from normal human post-mortem brain. Two of these clones were recloned to yield antibodies ES. 18 and ES. 19. Antibody ES. 18 stained some, but not all, neuronal perikarya in the medulla oblongata and other brain areas. Neurons stained by this antibody did not have a common neurotransmitter or physiological function, although they tended to be large. Perikarya in the basal forebrain nucleus from a case of Alzheimer-type dementia were stained much more intensely by ES. 18 than were these perikarya in a control brain. Antibody ES.19 did not stain neuronal perikarya but stained glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive processes below the pia, in the subependymal layer and in the molecular layer of the cerebellum of control and Alzheimer brains. This antibody also stained the numerous glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes in Alzheimer cerebral cortex, but did not stain glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes in the white matter of brains from controls or cases of Alzhcimcr-typc dementia. The staining pattern of ES.19 suggests that fibrous astrocytcs in Alzheimer cerebral cortex are antigcnically different from fibrous astrocytes in white matter.