Production and characterization of a monospecific antiserum (A128) to disaggregated Alzheimer paired helical filaments

Paired helical filaments (PHF), which constitute neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and neuritic plaque (NP) neurites, serve as a useful marker for Alzheimer disease (AD). We have isolated AD PHF in a highly purified and disaggregated form for use as an immunogen to produce a heterologous polycloncal antiserum in rabbits. One rabbit was maintained long-term for the high quality of the antiserum it produced. Through absorptions with normal brain tissue, we were able to produce a monospecific antiserum which reacts only with NFT and NP neurites in AD brain tissue sections. We further demonstrated the specificity of this antiserum by electron microscopic immunohistochemistry, gel diffusion analysis, and immunoblotting. This antiserum also showed immunoreactivity to NFT of Down syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy, and to the Pick bodies of Pick disease, but not to the Lewy bodies of idiopathic Parkinson disease. This well-characterized antiserum, all from one rabbit, offers several unique advantages to the study of the nature, origin, and interrelationships of filamentous protein abnormalities in AD and other neurodegenerative disorders.