Nguyen WT, Buhalog A, Hendrickson M, Kalil RE (2007) On the survival of nestin-expressing neurons in the cholinergic basal forebrain after an immunolesion with 192-IgG-saporin. Neuroscience 2007 Abstracts 674.5/D24. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.
Summary: Nestin is a class VI intermediate filament protein that is widely accepted as a marker for uncommitted neural progenitor cells. However, we have described a class of cells in the cholinergic basal forebrain of the adult rat and human that express markers associated exclusively with neurons, e.g., NeuN, β-III tubulin, and choline acetyl transferase (ChAT) and also express nestin. We have termed these cells nestin-expressing neurons (NENs). To explore the possibility that the expression of nestin by NENs might provide a neuroprotective effect, we administered the immunotoxin 192-IgG-saporin (192-saporin). The toxin consists of a ribosome-inactivating protein coupled to a monoclonal antibody directed against the p75 nerve growth factor receptor (p75 NGFr). As a result, 192-saporin selectively destroys cells expressing this receptor, such as most of the cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain. Two micrograms of 192-saporin in 6 µL of saline were injected unilaterally into the lateral ventricle of the brain in each of four adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Following a six day survival period, the rats were deeply anesthetized, perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde, and the brains were sectioned and immunostained for nestin and ChAT. After confirming that NENs, which were identified by the co-expression of nestin and ChAT, express the p75 NGFr, we determined the number of NENs in the medial septum and in the nucleus of the diagonal band as a percentage of all ChAT-positive neurons in these nuclei in rats treated with 192-saporin and in controls. We found no statistically significant difference in the proportion of NENs between rats that had received 192-saporin and controls. This result indicates that for the dose of 192-saporin and survival period used in these experiments, the expression of nestin does not confer a neuroprotective effect. Experiments using lower doses of 192-saporin and shorter survival times are underway.
Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)