BackgroundInformation | Theproteinalpha-internexinisa~66kDaClassIVintermediatefilamentoriginallydiscoveredasitcopurifieswithotherneurofilamentsubunits{PachterJetalJ.CellBiol101:1316-22(1985).Itisrelatedtobutdistinctfromthebetterknownneurofilamenttripletproteins,NF-L,NF-MandNF-H,havingsimilarproteinsequencemotifsandasimilarintronorganization.Itisexpressedinlargeamountsearlyinneuronaldevelopment,butisdownregulatedinmanyneuronsasdevelopmentprocedes.Manyclassesofmatureneuronscontainalpha-internexininadditiontoNF-L,NF-ManBDNF-H.Insomematureneuronsalpha-internexinistheonlyneurofilamentsubunitexpressed.Antibodiestoa-internexinarethereforeuniqueprobestostudyandclassifyneuronaltypesandfollowtheirprocessesinsectionsandintissueculture.Inadditiontheveryearlydevelopmentalexpressionofalpha-internexinmeansitspresenceisanearlyandconvenientdiagnosticfeatureofneuronalProgenitorscellsandothercellcommittedtotheneuronallineage.Inadditionrecentstudiesshowamarkedup-regulationofa-internexinduringneuronalregeneration{McGrawetal2002}.Theuseofantibodiestothisproteininthestudyofbraintumorshasnotbeenexaminedtodate,butislikelytobeofinterest. |