Immunoreactivity for phosphorylated 200-kDa neurofilament subunit is heterogeneously expressed in human sympathetic and primary sensory neurons.

This study was undertaken to investigate whether human sensory and sympathetic neurons contain phosphorylated neurofilament proteins, and whether they may be classified on the basis of this property, as in other mammalian species. The distribution of the phosphorylated 200-kDa neurofilament protein subunit (p200-NFP) was investigated in lumbar sympathetic and dorsal root ganglia by means of the RT97 monoclonal antibody (against p200-NFP). The intensity of immunostaining, and the size of neuronal body profiles were measured in order to define different neuron subclasses. In dorsal root ganglia, most of the neuronal profiles (96%) were p200-NFP immunoreactive, and the intensity of immunostaining was not related to neuronal perikarya size. In the lumbar paravertebral sympathetic ganglia, virtually all neurons displayed p200-NFP immunoreactivity, and the intensity of immunolabelling was also independent of the size of the neuronal somata. These results demonstrate heterogeneity in the expression of p200-NFP immunoreactivity in human sympathetic and sensory neurons. In contrast to other mammalian species, RT97 immunolabelling cannot be used as a discriminative marker for the two main types of human primary sensory neurons. On the other hand, our findings provide evidence for the occurrence of phosphorylated neurofilaments within peripheral neuron cell bodies.