Protein differences associated with the loss of myelinated axons and fibrillary gliosis in rat optic nerves following Wallerian degeneration

Isolation from peripheral nerve of a protein similar to the glial fibrillary acidic protein

“…It will be shown in this paper that peripheral nerves do contain a protein similar to the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFA), thus supporting the hypothesis that the protein subunits of glial and nerve filaments are alike [1,2]. The protein SO isolated, which we called SN1 protein, does not react with GFA antisera, but is related to GFA as indicated by comigration experiments on SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis, the type of degradation resulting from in situ proteolysis, amino acid composition and cyanogen bromide peptide mapping.…”

The loss of neuron-specific proteins during the course of Wallerian degeneration of optic and sciatic nerve

“…Several investigators have used experimentally induced Wallerian degeneration in an attempt to identify neuron-specific proteins. Although Dahl and Bignami (1975) reported no difference between degenerated and control rat optic nerves except for myelin proteins, their figures indicated a loss of high molecular weight protein in the course of degeneration. In a preliminary communication (Soifer et al, 1978), we reported several changes in the more prominent proteins of rabbit optic nerve following removal of one eye.…”

The protein composition of glial and nerve fibers

“…In a communication in this Journal it was shown that the electrophoretic band pattern of rat optic nerves did not change markedly after long-standing Wallerian degeneration, at a time when axons had been replaced by neuroglia (fibrous gliosis), thus suggesting that glial and nerve fibers are similar in polypeptide composition [ 1 ]. Recent comparative studies of GFA and neurofilament proteins [2], and the isolation ofa GFA-like protein from peripheral nerves where glial fibers are not present [3], also point in the same direction, i.e.…”