BackgroundInformation | TheChemiconPhosphorylatedNeurofilamentH(pNF-H)kitisasandwichenzymeimmunoassay(EIA),whichmeasurespNF-H.ThekitwillmeasurepNF-Hfromavarietyofmammalianspeciesincludinghuman,rat,mouse,bovine,porcine,andfeline.
Neurofilamentsarethe10nmdiameterfilamentswhichmakeupthemajorpartoftheCytoskeletonofneuronsandareparticularlyconcentratedinlargerdiameteraxons.Theybelongtotheintermediateor10nmfilamentprotein/genesuperfamilywhichalsoincludesthekeratins,themajorstructuralproteinsofskin.NeurofilamentsaregenerallyregardedasbeingcomposedofthreemajorproteinsubunitsreferredtoasNF-L,NF-MandNF-H.NF-Listhe"low"or"light"subunit,NF-Misthe"medium"or"middle"subunitandNF-Histhe"heavy"or"high"subunit.ThisnomenclatureisbasedontheapparentsizeoftheseproteinsonSDS-PAGEgels;NF-Listypicallyabout68kDa,NF-Misabout150kDaandNF-Hisabout200kDa.Thesethreeproteins,referredtoastheneurofilamenttriplet,werediscoveredinthe1970sasaresultofstudiesofaxonallytransportedproteins(HoffmanandLasek1975).Afourthprotein,α-internexin,a.k.aNF66,waslaterdiscoveredasaproteinco-purifiingwiththeneurofilamenttripletproteins(PachterandLiem1985).Afifthprotein,peripherin,isfoundinsomeneurofilamentsalongwiththeotherfourproteins,mostlyintheperipheralnervoussystem(Portieretal.1983).Neurofilamentsaremajorproteinsofneuronsandareparticularlyconcentratedinaxons.TheproteinNF-Hhassomeveryunusualproperties.Firstlyitcontains50-60backtobackhexa,heptaoroctapeptiderepeatseachcontainingthesequenceLysine-Serine-Proline(KSP).Theserineresiduesinthesepeptiderepeatsarephosporylatedinvivo,andinaxonalneurofilaments,thesesitesareheavilyphosphorylated.ThephosphorylatedformsofNF-Harealsoquiteresistanttoproteases,suggestingthatthisveryabundantproteinmightbeparticularlyresistanttoproteotyticcleavageuponreleasefromdamagedanddiseasedaxons.Thismeansthatdetectionofthisproteinincerebrospinalfluid(CSF)andbloodwouldprovideinformationaboutthedegreeofaxonalinjurywhichhasoccurred(reviewedinPetzold2005).Asrecentlyshown,thisproteincanbedetectedinquitelargeamountsfollowingexperimentalspinalcordandbraininjuryinrats(Shawetal.2005).Levelsofgreaterthan100ng/mlofpNF-Hweredetectableinbloodfollowingseriousspinalcordinjuryandlowerbutstilleasilydetectablelevelswereseeninbloodofanimalsgivenexperimentalbraininjury.Morerecentstudieshaverevealedconsiderableamountsofthisproteininthebloodofmicetransgenicformutationsofhumancopper/zincsuperoxidedismutase1whichareassociatedwithamyotrophiclateralsclerosis(ALS).ThesemicedevelopanaxonaldegenerationpathologysimilartothatseeninhumanswithALS,andbloodpNF-Hlevelscanbeusedtomonitorthis.Interestingly,pNF-Hisdetectablebeforetheonsetofobviousdiseasesymptoms.OtherstudiesshowthatpNF-Hcanbedetectedintissuehomogenates.OtherexperimentsshowthatpNF-Hcanbedetectedintheplasmaofhumanssufferingfromopticneuritis(Petzoldetal2004)andinelevatedlevelsinthecerebrospinalfluid(CSF)ofindividualssufferingfrombraintumorsandstroke(PetzoldandShaw,unpublished).
TestPrincipleWiththeChemiconpNF-Hassaysystem,chickenpolyclonalantibodiesgeneratedagainstpNF-H,arepre-coatedontoa96-wellplateandareusedtocapturepNF-Hfromasample.CapturedpNF-HisdetectedusingpNF-Hspecificrabbitpolyclonalantibodiesandagoatanti-rabbitalkalinephosphataseconjugate.AfteradditionofthesubstratesolutiontheamountofpNF-Hisdetermined.ThestandardcurvedemonstratesadirectrelationshipbetweenOpticalDensity(OD)andpNF-Hconcentration:i.e.,thehighertheODthehigherthepNF-Hconcentrationinthesample.
ApplicationTheChemiconpNF-HkitisdesignedtomeasuretheamountofpNF-HintissuehomogenatesandBIOLOGicalfluid(serum,plasma,andserum-free)samplesfrommouseandrat.Thereareenoughreagentsincludedinthiskitforone96-wellimmuno-assayplate.Runningduplicatewellsforsamplesandstandardsisrecommended. |