Supporting Neurobiology Research: Neural Marker Antibodies

The diversity of cells in the brain and nervous system of mammals is staggering. A brain map published in 2023 by an NIH-led data consortium finds more than 3,000 distinct neuron types in the human brain. Even though each cell carries the same set of genetic material, a cell can differentiate into a variety of neuronal types, changing how the brain processes and transmits information. To understand the inherent diversity of the brain and nervous systems, we curated and produce antibodies, including recombinant engineered antibodies, that target key proteins in neuronal populations to identify and characterize neurons, like MAP-2 (Ab02896) found in dendrites and synaptophysin (Ab00301) found in presynaptic terminals.

Recombinant Engineered Neural Marker Antibodies

The Absolute Antibody catalog offers recombinantly produced antibodies against relevant proteins in neuronal marker research to ensure batch-to-batch reproducibility and enable antibody engineering. The antibodies are available off-the-shelf in different engineered formats, including mouse, rabbit, and human species, as well as various isotypes and fragments. The antibodies can also be custom-engineered into other formats upon request (contact your account manager for more information).

With various species, complete biological definition, and batch-to-batch reliability, recombinant antibodies against neuronal markers can help researchers identify neural subpopulations, map neural circuits, investigate neurodevelopment and plasticity, understand neurological disorders, and more.

The following are recent citations using engineered antibodies from Absolute Antibody for neuronal marker research.

• Jiménez and Moreno (2022) studied the brain development of the anamniote Xenopus frogs and the amniote Trachemys turtles by comparing neuronal populations using antibodies like Absolute Antibody’s anti-Ctip2 [25B6] recombinant antibody (Ab0061) for immunofluorescence. They found that despite some differences in structure, both animals have similar brain regions responsible for memory and behavior. This suggests that there’s a basic blueprint for this part of the brain across different types of animals, showing how brains have evolved.
• Tan et al. (2023) used the recombinant engineered antibody clone 25B6 against Ctip2 (Ab0061), a marker known to be found in lower brain regions, to differentiate between lower and upper-layer astrocytes in immunofluorescence assays in vitro, finding that δ-catenin is highly expressed in astrocytes and interacts with N-cadherin, a cell adhesion protein crucial for astrocyte structure.
• Delgado et al. (2021) used recombinant anti-polysialic acid antibodies (Ab00240) for immunofluorescence and western blot applications, finding that inhibiting polysialic acid’s post-translational modification of neural cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM-1) leads to improper formation and spacing of specialized cardiac conduction cells, adding to our understanding of the mechanisms of cardiac conduction development and disease.

Immunohistochemical staining of rat spinal cord using anti-polysialic acid antibody Ab00240-23.0

Other Antibodies for Neuronal Marker Research

As a Vector Laboratories brand, our portfolio of life sciences tools combines best-in-class antibodies from multiple brands that target neuronal cell populations for reliable, specific performance in neuroscience research.

Goat polyclonal antibodies for neuronal markers like choline acetyltransferase (EB06636), GFAP (EB07478), and NMDA receptor (EB07341) from Everest Biotech are backed by stringent quality control and purification standards, providing researchers with cost-effective, high-affinity antibodies especially suited for applications like detecting low or unknown abundance targets.

Neuronal nuclei (NeuN) antibodies (LS‑C73393), MAP-2 antibodies validated for IHC (LS-B1872), and Calbindin antibodies (LS-B16562) and ELISA kits (LS-F7744) are available from LSBio, a brand which specializes in pathologist-validated antibodies and kits for streamlined detection of key neural cell markers.

Conclusion

With 3,000 different neuron types in the brain, the diversity of neural cells in humans is staggering. Our extensive antibody experience provides researchers with highly specific, reliable antibodies, enabling the characterization, localization, and detection of neural markers to further understand the molecular and structural underpinnings of the brain and nervous system.