Bl. Watkins et al., LOCALIZATION OF A NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR-LIKE ANTIGEN IN THE THORACIC NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF EMBRYONIC LOCUSTS, SCHISTOCERCA-GREGARIA, Journal of comparative neurology, 351(1), 1995, pp. 134-144
Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and subseque
nt immunoblotting of neuronal membrane proteins derived from thoracic
ganglia of adult Locusta and Schistocerca reveal that a polyclonal ant
iserum raised against the Locusta nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nA
ChR), binds strongly to an identical polypeptide band corresponding to
65 kDa in both locust species. This polyclonal antiserum was used to
analyze the distribution of antigenic sites within the developing thor
acic central nervous system of Schistocerca embryos. Axonal outgrowths
from the earliest differentiated neurons are first labeled between 30
% and 35% development. By 40% to 45% development, labeled granules app
ear in the cytoplasm of neuronal cell bodies. When the developing neur
opil is first enclosed at approximately 45% to 50% development, it app
ears uniformly labeled, but by 55% development, unlabeled areas appear
that represent the sites of future tracts and commissures. By 75%, an
adult pattern of neuropil immunogenicity is established in which syna
ptic regions are stained but tracts and commissures are not. This sugg
ests that during the early development of the thoracic nervous system
nAChR-like antigenic sites are evenly distributed, but later become co
ncentrated in the developing synaptic areas. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.