Novel microtubule-associated protein-2 isoform is expressed early in human oligodendrocyte maturation

✍ Scribed by Bridget Shafit-Zagardo; Peter Davies; Julia Rockwood; Yvonne Kress; Sunhee C. Lee

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 968 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-1491
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-1136(20000201)29:3<233::aid-glia5>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

We have identified a developmentally regulated, oligodendrocytespecific protein, designated microtubule-associated protein-2 expressing exon 13 (MAP-2ϩ13), in the human central nervous system (CNS). Monoclonal antibodies directed against MAP-2ϩ13 labeled oligodendrocytes in the white matter of human fetal spinal cord. Double-label immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, and immunoelectron microscopy localized MAP-2ϩ13 to the soma and extending processes of fetal oligodendrocytes, but not to the myelin sheath. The immunoreactivity was throughout the perikarya. Ultrastructural examination of the fetal myelin sheaths showed them to be thin and not fully compacted, indicating that myelination was in progress. There was no overlap in staining of GFAPϩ astrocytes and MAP-2ϩ13ϩ oligodendrocytes. MAP-2ϩ13 was also expressed in intermediate filament-negative ''radial glia'' extending from the central canal to the subpial surface. In the mature CNS, MAP-2ϩ13 also marked cells of oligodendroglial morphology, but these cells were rare. These finding demonstrate that in the human CNS, MAP-2ϩ13 is a novel protein transiently expressed in cells of oligodendroglial lineage.