Monoclonal antibodies which distinguish certain classes of neuronal and supporting cells in the nervous tissue of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Monoclonal antibodies were generated using mice immunized with total homogenates of Caenorhabditis elegans adults or early larvae. Two of them were shown to distinguish a certain class of neuronal or supporting cells in the nervous tissue of this animal. Their histological specificities were studied in detail by indirect immunofluorescence on a whole mount preparation of animal head (or tail); for one of the antibodies further analysis was done by immunoelectron microscopy with the aid of a colloidal gold probe. An application of this antibody to a mutant of C. elegans is also described.