Monoclonal antibodies distinguish phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated forms of neurofilaments in situ.

The immunocytochemical staining patterns of 37 neuron-specific monoclonal antibodies previously described fell into four groups: (i) anti-synapse-associated, (ii) anti-neurofibrillar, (iii) anti-perikaryonal-neurofibrillar, and (iv) a single antibody reactive with a widely distributed epitope that covered the patterns of groups ii and iii. Antibodies of groups ii, iii, and iv were shown to be specific to neurofilament triplet subunits, even though there was little overlap in staining patterns between groups ii and iii. We examined nine of these antibodies as to their ability to distinguish functional states of neurofilaments dependent upon phosphorylation. Upon digestion with phosphatase, electroblot staining of neurofilament components was abolished with the five antibodies from group ii, enhanced with the three antibodies from group iii, and unaffected with antibody iv. Immunocytochemical staining of Bouin-fixed paraffin sections of rat brain was unaffected by phosphatase pretreatment. With antibodies of group ii, digestion with trypsin also left staining unaffected, but when followed by digestion with phosphatase, staining was diminished with three out of five antibodies. In contrast, digestion with trypsin abolished all staining with each antibody from group iii. If followed by digestion with phosphatase, staining reappeared, but the group iii pattern was replaced by a group ii pattern. Staining of this pattern was again abolished upon a second treatment with trypsin. The antibody from group iv lost most of its groups ii and iii staining patterns when sections were digested with trypsin. The group ii pattern reappeared and, indeed, was enhanced upon a subsequent phosphatase treatment and was reduced again upon a second trypsin treatment. Staining by four out of five antibodies from group ii was inhibited by inorganic phosphate. The data indicate that certain nerve cell bodies, their dendrites, and at least proximal axons possess nonphosphorylated neurofilaments and that long fibers, including terminal axons, possess phosphorylated neurofilaments. We propose that phosphorylation may be a factor in stabilizing compacted forms of neurofilaments and that heterogeneity of the compacted structures may play a role in a possible multiplicity of function within individual nerve cells.