A MONOCLONAL THYMOCYTOTOXIC AUTOANTIBODY FROM AUTOIMMUNE-DISEASE-PRONE NEW-ZEALAND BLACK MOUSE RECOGNIZES BETA-TUBULIN IN NEURAL TISSUE

On the basis of our previous report that a thymocytotoxic monoclonal a utoantibody (NTA260) derived from a New Zealand Black mouse reacts wit h brain tissues as well as lymphoid cells, the neuronal antigen reacti ng with this antithymocyte antibody was characterized in the present e xperiment. Double staining of cultured brain cells with NTA260 and ant i-tubulin antibody revealed that both staining patterns closely resemb led each other. NTA260 reacted with purified tubulin molecules on West ern blotting. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of the whole lysate of embryonic mouse brain revealed that NTA260 stained the spot corresp onding to that of beta-tubulin but not that of alpha-tubulin. These re sults suggest that beta-tubulin is a prominent neuronal antigen recogn ized by NTA260.