Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 10, 620-630, Copyright © 1990 by Society for Neuroscience
A monoclonal antibody that recognizes somatic motor neurons in the mature rat nervous system
H Urakami and AY Chiu
Division of Neurosciences, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, California 91010.
In order to obtain markers selective for motor neurons, an in vitro
immunization was carried out using a crude homogenate of embryonic rat
ventral spinal cord. We have generated a monoclonal antibody, MO-1, that
binds selectively to the cell bodies of somatic motor neurons in the brain
stem and spinal cord of the adult rat nervous system. In a survey of both
peripheral and central nervous systems, intense labeling by MO-1 appears
exclusive to this class of cholinergic neuron. Immunoreactivity is
predominantly intracellular and is detectable within the somata as well as
the proximal regions of processes but is absent along fiber tracts and at
neuromuscular junctions. This staining pattern indicates that MO-1 does not
recognize other molecules known to be present in motor neurons, such as
choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, agrin, or the
calcitonin-gene-related-peptide. In the spinal cord, antibody binding
begins to be detectable in motor neurons late in development, during the
second postnatal week. Thus, MO- 1 appears to recognize a novel cellular
component that accumulates in somatic motor neurons during terminal stages
of differentiation.