Immunological characterization of microtubule‐associated proteins specific for the immature brain

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Abstract
Immunoblotting analysis was used to detect the microtubule-associated proteins present at different stages of rat brain development. Polyclonal antibodies were raised against the two main adult brain microtubule-associated proteins: MAP-2 (300 kDa) and TAU (60–70 kDa). Whatever the stage of development, anti-MAP-2 serum detected high molecular mass proteins and at immature stages a protein of 62 kDa. This protein which has previously been referred to as ‘young TAU slow’ is, therefore, immunologically related to MAP-2. The anti-TAU serum (but not the anti-MAP-2 serum) detected at immature stages of development a 48 kDa protein which also disappears at adulthood. This 48 kDa entity which has been referred to as ‘young TAU fast’ is progressively replaced by the closely spaced bands (60–70 kDa) of adult TAU proteins. The 62 and 48 kDa proteins appear therefore to be immunologically distinct and represent two microtubule-associated proteins specific to the immature brain