Establishment of a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Thy-1; quantitative assessment of neuronal degeneration.

In the central nervous system (CNS), Thy-1 is expressed predominantly on neurons and serves as a specific marker for neurons. In the present study, we established a two-site enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that detects trace amounts of Thy-1 protein. Recombinant Thy-1 protein expressed in Escherichia coli was purified and used as a standard. Of the regions of the nervous system examined, the highest Thy-1 concentration was found in the striatum followed by the hippocampus, neocortex, cerebellum, spinal cord, retina and optic nerve. We found that injection of a neurotoxin, N-methyl-D-aspartate, into the vitreous cavity reduced the Thy-1 level in the retina. Thy-1 ELISA will be useful for quantitative assessment of neurodegeneration in the CNS. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.