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Immunocytochemical localization of taurine and glial fibrillary acidic protein in human optic nerve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Norma Lake ,
Carole Verdone-Smith  and
Seymour Brownstein
Norma Lake
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, McGill University Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University
Carole Verdone-Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, McGill University
Seymour Brownstein
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Abstract

Taurine immunoreactivity (IR) in 1 -μm sections of glutaraldehyde-fixed human optic nerve was observed using light microscopy and an antibody raised in rabbit to taurine conjugated to bovine serum albumin. Throughout the nerve, taurine-lR was prominent in glial cells, in their perinuclear regions, and in their numerous branching processes, some of which extended to the pial septa. The peripheral glial mantle (glia limitans) was densely stained, whereas axons and the pial septa showed relatively little or no taurine-IR. Immunoreactivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an astrocyte-specific marker, was evaluated on adjacent sections. The pattern of GFAP-IR was highly similar to that for taurine, suggesting that a subset of taurine-immunoreactive glial cells are optic nerve astrocytes. To our knowledge, this is the first localization of taurine and GFAP in human optic nerve.

Keywords

TaurineGlial fibrillary acidic proteinHuman optic nerveGliaImmunocytochemistry
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , March 1992 , pp. 251 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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