Some aspects of biochemistry of fibrous proteins in brain
Abstract
Recent investigations in a variety of laboratories have shown that
the fibrous proteins actin and tubulin are involved in a wide spectrum
of cellular activities, including motility and the transfer of materials
across cell membranes.
The investigation that forms the subject of this thesis used the
wealth of background information on events following section of the
XIIth cranial (hypoglossal) nerve in the rat, to see what part actin
and tubulin play in the withdrawal and re-establishment of synaptic
boutons: to investigate synapse modelling.
Quantitative protein changes were measured by polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis. Cellular location of the changes was shown by
immunofluorescence microscopy.
This work was extended to include an investigation of a small
amount of human material. Using the same analytical techniques as were
employed in the experimental work on rats, a tentative identification
is made of the material that forms the neurofibrillary tangles in
presenile and senile dementia. Suggestions are made about the nature
and origin of these diseases. Some observations are also made about the protein skeletin, but
because isolation and characterization methods currently available
give conflicting results about the true nature of this important
cellular component, it was excluded from an in depth study pending
more detailed information about it.