Immunocytochemical demonstration of α-tubulin modification during axonal maturation in the cerebellar cortex

Abstract

Previous light microscopic immunocytochemical studies using two monoclonal antibodies that recognize α-tubulin (YOL/34 and YL1/2) but differ in their isotypic specificity have shown that the unmyelinated parallel fiber axons in the cerebellar cortex are labeled with only one of the antibodies (YOL/34). We now show that at 10 d postnatally the parallel fibers are labeled with both antibodies, and that during development YL1/2 (but not YOL/34) immunoreactivity disappears progressively from parallel fibers in the lower regions of the molecular layer upwards towards the external germinal layer. By ~28 d postnatally, the differential staining pattern of parallel fibers by the antibodies is established throughout the molecular layer. The time course, light microscopic, and ultrastructural staining distribution corresponds to a progressive change in α-tubulin immunoreactivity as the parallel fibers form synaptic contacts. This modification of α-tubulin (which was not observed in Purkinje cell dendrites or Bergmann glia) may be related to the formation of a basic isotype of α-tubulin within parallel fiber axons at maturation.