Abstract
Biochemical and immunological differences have been demonstrated in intermediate-sized (or 10-nm) filaments (IFs) from a variety of cell types (for reviews see refs 1–4). Neurofilaments, the IFs of neurones (NIF), are composed of three proteins that differ from those of non-neuronal IFs5–12. Yet, in the 2-day-old chick neural tube, virtually all the replicating neuroepithelial cells, the precursor population to spinal cord neurones and glia, contain IF proteins that are immunologically and biochemically identical to the major IF protein present in chick fibroblasts, FIF protein (vimentin13, decamin14); they contain neither NIF proteins nor the IF proteins characteristic of astrocytes (glial fibril-lary acidic protein15,16), muscle cells (desmin17, skeletin18) and epithelial cells (prekeratin19,20)21. As the neuronal progeny of these cells mature, they synthesize NIF proteins and cease expression of FIF protein10,21. In this study, we have used antisera against different IF proteins to show that, at a time when neurones are withdrawing from the cell cycle, NIF proteins are present in a small percentage of replicating neuroepithelial cells, probably appearing during the terminal cell cycle of the neuronal precursor; and that for a brief period the postmitotic neuroblast expresses both NIF and FIF proteins.
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Tapscott, S., Bennett, G. & Holtzer, H. Neuronal precursor cells in the chick neural tube express neurofilament proteins. Nature 292, 836–838 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292836a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292836a0
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