Immunohistochemical investigation of actin-anchoring proteins vinculin, talin and paxillin in rat brain following lesion: a moderate reaction, confined to the astroglia of brain tracts.

The present study investigated the immunoreactivity of vinculin, talin and paxillin following stab wounds in the cortex and the underlying white matter of adult rats. These proteins participate in the anchoring of actin filaments to the cell membrane at the focal adhesion plaques, and they are of essential importance in cell motility. Without lesion, vinculin, talin and paxillin immunopositive astrocytes were not recognizable in the cortex and only scarcely in the white matter, if at all. Following lesion, several astrocytes immunopositive to vinculin, talin and paxillin appeared in the white matter, whereas none of them was found in the overlying cortex. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunopositivity was intense in both areas. The distribution of the actin-anchoring proteins following lesions was similar to that found of the intermediate-filament associated protein plectin, in our previous study.