Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) Antibody Review

Introduction

a member of the cytoskeletal protein family, is major intermediate filament protein of mature astrocytes. PMID: 16729237, PMID: 11059815
a specific biomarker for neural glia, mainly astrocytes and non-myelinating Schwann cells. PMID: 16521185, PMID: 11520676
GFAP gene is first expressed as astrocytes mature, and in the adult is strongly upregulated in response to CNS damage. PMID: 16482522
A key component of the astrocyte cytoskeleton, and plays an essential role in neuron/astrocyte interactions. PMID: 16343449
used as a marker of astrocyte response to various central nervous system injuries. PMID: 15774316
a marker of traumatic brain injury (TBI). PMID: 15684648
an established marker of retinal glia and has been shown to be modulated by several cytokines and retinal pathology. PMID: 12010215

Normal Expression

During the first postnatal month, GFAP and Cx43 were mainly localized in the white matter underlying the visual cortical areas 17 and 18. Then, their distributions evolved similarly with a progressive decrease of their density in the white matter associated with an increase in the cortex. Connexin30 expression appeared only from the second postnatal month, strictly in the cortex and with a laminar distribution which was similar to that of Cx43 at the same age. In adults, a specific laminar distribution was observed, that was identical for GFAP, Cx43 and Cx30: their density was higher in layers II/III and V than in the other cortical layers. PMID: 16297988
GFAP-expressing NSCs are phenotypically and functionally distinct from non-neurogenic astrocytes. PMID: 16267834
In winter the GFAP-immunoreactivity of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus was found low whereas in summer it was high. PMID: 16196195, PMID: 16879601
A paucity of GFAP expression was found in most regions of the normal adult rat brainstem, whereas GFAP+ astrocytes were abundantly distributed in all areas of the cortex and cerebellum. A similar regional heterogeneity in the distribution of GFAP+ astrocytes was seen in the neonatal rat brain. PMID: 16048809
A significant increase in GFAP immunolabelling of macroglia was noted in aged normal compared with young normal retinas (p<0.04). PMID: 12928288
maturation of GFAP expression occurs early in postnatal development in mouse visual cortex (VC). PMID: 12555207
The intensity of immunostaining for the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is outstandingly high in the interpeduncular nucleus. PMID: 11396839
first report to date on GFAP expression in the retina and visual cortex and includes discussion of the possible mechanisms through which GFAP expression is mediated. PMID: 8552312
Quantitative analyses show a significant increase with age, in the number of GFAP positive astrocytes and processes in the old adult when compared with the young adult rat. PMID: 7583287
GFAP expression in retinal Muller cells is a common feature of a wide variety of adult vertebrate species. PMID: 1283834
in the human pituitary, GFAP can be regarded as a marker protein of pituicytes and FS cells, which is expressed at varying degrees. PMID: 2722564
Number of GFAP-positive astrocytes increases in an age-dependent manner, but no correlations were noted between number of GFAP-positive astrocytes and postmortem time and cause of death. PMID: 16621651
hippocampal astrocytes undergo rapid maturation in the 1st month of postnatal life, followed by a slow consolidation of this process until the 3rd month of life. At 5 months of age, there are still dynamic changes in the mature astrocytes, which become slender and thinner probably as a response to the increased volume of hippocampus noticeable at this age. PMID: 11796133

Non-Neuronal Tissue Expression

Epidermal and hair follicle keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts showed distinct staining for GFAP as well as colocalization with alpha-actin, metallothionein, and antigens of the class-II major histocompatibility complex (MHC II). GFAP was also identified in rat alveolar fibroblasts which, in common with keratinocytes, form part of the air-tissue interface. PMID: 17008879
GFAP expression in the liver as an early marker of stellate cells activation. PMID: 16536051
GFAP was also established as one of the several makers for identifying hepatic stellate cells (HSC). PMID: 16521185
staining of endothelial cells with the polyclonal GFAP antiserum is due to cross reactivity with another protein. PMID: 15158176
Since GFAP has also been detected in non-glial cells, we systematically analyzed GFAP expression in human and murine non-CNS tissues using a panel of anti-GFAP antibodies. In human tissues we confirm previously observed GFAP expression in Schwann cells, myoepithelial cells, and chondrocytes, and show for the first time GFAP expression in fibroblasts of epiglottic and auricular perichondrium, ligamentum flavum, and cardiac valves. In mice we show GFAP expression in Schwann cells, bone marrow stromal cells, chondrocytes, and in fibroblasts of dura mater, skull and spinal perichondrium, and periosteum, connective stroma of oral cavity, dental pulp, and cardiac valves. PMID: 11379820
Peripheral islet cells were stained with anti-GFAP antiserum. These cells were identified as glucagon-secreting cells by immunocytochemical staining of consecutive sections with anti-somatostatin, anti-GFAP, and anti-glucagon antisera. PMID: 10950880
in rat pancreas, intense GFAP-like immunoreactivity is detectable in a subpopulation of endocrine cells located in the periphery of the islet of Langerhans. In addition, staining appeared to be preferentially localized to the apical pole of the cells. PMID: 10639492
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has recently been shown to be expressed in the glomerular podocytes and mesangial cells (MC) of kidney (Buniatian et al (1998) Biol Cell 90, 53-61). PMID: 10668098, PMID: 9691426

Abnormal Expression

Here we show that the main intermediate filament protein of Schwann cells, the glial fibrillary acidic protein, is collapsed to the perinuclear region instead of being well-spread from the nucleus to the cell periphery. PMID: 15837555
Neuronal GFAP is mainly observed in the pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus of Alzheimer and Down syndrome patients and aged controls, but not in neurons of patients suffering from hippocampal sclerosis. PMID: 12931206
Astrocyte reactions to brain damage are usually accompanied by increases in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression. PMID: 16465495
in eye diseases or when eye injuries occur, GFAP is expressed in large quantities in retinal Muller cells. PMID: 15336506

Expression Alteration

Glial fibrillary acidic protein expression is reduced in diabetic retinopathy and is also reduced, with unknown consequences, in other brain regions of diabetic rats. PMID: 16374706
Reduction of GFAP induced by long dark rearing is not restricted to visual cortex. PMID: 16343449
Serum-GFAP is increased during the first days after a severe traumatic brain injury and related to clinical outcome. PMID: 16266720
GFAP levels in the CSF were highly elevated in three genetically confirmed cases of Alexander disease clinically conforming with infantile, early and late juvenile forms. PMID: 16217707
Compared to control rats, both malnourished groups of 30 and 60 days exhibited a reduced number of GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes in the SCN. The total GFAP-immunoreactive area in the SCN of the GLA group differed from the control group at both age ranges analyzed. PMID: 15682649
Treatment with vitamin B3 improves functional recovery and reduces GFAP expression following traumatic brain injury in rats. PMID: 14651806
Activity-stress increases density of GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes in the rat hippocampus. PMID: 11342393
long-term housing under constant lighting conditions led to dramatic changes in GFAP expression, i.e., a decrease in the SCN and an increase in the IGL. PMID: 10740226
Toluene and other neurotoxicants can cause both increases and decreases in the concentration of GFAP in the brain. PMID: 9745935
aging was associated with a significant increase in GFAP positive astrocyte sizes, except for immunolabelled astrocytes in the granule cell layer. PMID: 9165352
region-specific alterations in brain GFAP concentrations provided evidence of specificity of lead neurotoxicity in the adult brain. PMID: 9086495, PMID: 8685912, PMID: 8670008
Repeated seizures increase GFAP and vimentin in the hippocampus. PMID: 8738264
Increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAp) in Lyme neuroborreliosis. PMID: 8740104
Muller cell expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in RPE-cell transplanted retinas of RCS dystrophic rats. PMID: 8261795
Increased GFAP immunostaining was observed in the gray matter of the spinal cord ipsilateral to the lesion and specific to spinal segments in which the sciatic nerve is distributed. PMID: 1723019
Excessive light exposure initiated a signal which induced GFAP expression in Muller cells. This signal appeared to require a dark period and may be a diffusible factor that moves through extracellular pathways. PMID: 2200639
Age-dependent reductions in the level of glial fibrillary acidic protein in the prefrontal cortex in major depression. PMID: 15238995
Increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein in the brain of spontaneously hypertensive rats. PMID: 15195688
nicotine caused a decrease in the surviving neurons and an increased expression of GFAP in cerebellar white matter of the offspring on PND 60. These changes can lead to long-term neurological adverse health effects later in life. PMID: 15045467

Function

expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) by perivascular cells of many mammalian organs suggests an as yet unknown function of this intermediate filament protein in the maintenance of homeostasis and vascular permeability at the blood-tissue interface. PMID: 17008879
GFAP might contribute to form macro-complexes to initiate mitogenic and differentiating signaling for efficient nerve regeneration. PMID: 16988027
Serum GFAP is a potential marker for prognosis and outcome in patients with central nervous system disorders. PMID: 16405937
useful to diagnose those glial tumours which are difficult to be identified by heamatoxylin-eosin stain or due to rare or unusual site. PMID: 16202357
Both measurement of GFAP and S100B is a useful non-invasive means of identifying brain damage with some differences based on the pattern of TBI and accompanying multiple trauma and/or shock. PMID: 15684648
GFAP expression is essential for normal white matter architecture and blood-brain barrier integrity, and its absence leads to late-onset CNS dysmyelination. PMID: 8893019
GFAP can be used as a specific marker for ethanol-induced alterations of astrocytes. PMID: 8525783
Muller-cell GFAP expression may be used as an index to follow possible processes leading to an ischemic insult. PMID: 1772810
phosphorylation of GFAP plays a role in non-dividing astrocytes in vivo. PMID: 11918673

Applications

Electron Microscopy (EM)

Five cases of anaplastic oligodendrogliomas containing numerous GFAP-positive cells have been analysed by electron microscopy to establish the fine structural characteristics of neoplastic cells. PMID: 11680631
Immunostaining for glial fibrillary acidic protein was performed in the hippocampus and cerebellum of adult rats in order to compare the distributions of immunolabelling after pre- and postembedding procedures. The reactions of protoplasmic astrocytes and pericapillary astrocyte processes were investigated at the electron microscopic level. PMID: 9874146
Using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy, we examined changes in the features of astrocytes in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation after high-dose chronic toluene inhalation (2000 ppm, 4 h/day) for 1 month. PMID: 8834099
post-embedding immuno gold staining (IGS) technique was used for the ultrastructural localization of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in pituicytes and tanycytes of the neurohypophysis. PMID: 2732098

ELISA

CSF levels of NFL and GFAP were determined by sensitive ELISAs in 99 patients with different subtypes of MS, classified in terms of "ongoing relapse" or "clinically stable disease," and 25 control subjects. PMID: 15534240
This paper presents a new sandwich ELISA allowing quantification of GFAP(SMI26) from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). PMID: 15099765
we used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify GFAP in frozen brain from four areas of neocortex in 10 AD cases, 10 age-matched controls, and 10 younger controls from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study autopsy archive. PMID: 12713522
Measurement of glial fibrillary acidic protein in blood: an analytical method. PMID: 12417106
concentration of GFAP was measured in regions of 1 hemisection, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while the other hemisection was used for GFAP immunostaining. PMID: 7475226
Levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NFL and GFAP were measured using ELISAs. Both CSF NFL and CSF GFAP concentrations were significantly higher in a patient group diagnosed with CNS vasculitis (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) than in a patient group for whom CNS vasculitis was excluded. PMID: 11891800
In order to assess the increase of GFAP in serum (s-GFAP) after a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) we collected daily serum samples from 59 patients with severe TBI starting on the day of the trauma. S-GFAP was measured using a sandwich ELISA. PMID: 16266720
Reactive gliosis induced by MK-801 in the rat posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex: GFAP evaluation by sandwich ELISA and immunocytochemistry. PMID: 7566683
objective of this study was to use glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which is restricted to the CNS, in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of CNS tissue in blood and muscle from beef cattle. PMID: 10419214

Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA)

Enzyme immunoassay of the serum neurospecific antigens (gliofibrillar acid protein and neurospecific enolase) was used for evaluation of the resistance of the blood-brain barrier in Wistar rats with perinatal hypoxia and ischemia of the CNS. PMID: 14666190

Flow Cytometry (FC)

we established primary cultures from six astrocytic tumour specimens and used a double-staining flow cytometric method to detect the different levels of GFAP among these primary cultures. PMID: 14646498

Immunofluorescence (IF)

Double Immunofluorescence Shows Coexpression of Bcl-x with GFAP in a Variety of Glial Lesions. PMID: 16773221
Immunofluorescence staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a specific marker for fibrillary astrocytes, was only occasionally positive in the monolayer of the control cultures; however, it was markedly positive in most cells maintained for 3 or 9 days and exposed to toluene and mixed solvents. PMID: 9256930
Immunofluorescence, western blot, RT-PCR and Northern blot analyses were used to demonstrate the expression of GFAP in cultured Muller cells. PMID: 15336506

Imunocytochemistry (ICC)

Immunocytochemical evidence for a distinct GFAP-negative subpopulation of astrocytes in the adult rat hippocampus. PMID: 9870336

Immunohistochemistry (IHC)

expression of astrocyte marker proteins (S100beta and GFAP) during infarction and glial scar formation after transient middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion was examined using double immunostaining. expression of astrocyte marker proteins (S100beta and GFAP) during infarction and glial scar formation after transient middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion was examined using double immunostaining. PMID: 15328028
GFAP expression were estimated using immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy and image analysis. Changes in expression of antigenicity were analysed in human retinal cryosections at three levels: constitutive,aberrant and total. The results indicated that short-term and long-term storage duration had no significant effect on GFAP immunoreactivity at all three levels of expression (P > 0.2).However, a significant increase in GFAP immunoreactivity and distribution at all three levels of expression was associated with prolonged post-mortem delay (> 30 h) (P < 0.05). PMID: 12010215
The current histopathological and immunohistochemical study (with a panel of antibodies for GFAP, vimentin, S-100 protein, MBP, NSE) has been performed on biopsy specimens from 12 cases of GFAP-immunopositive oligodendroglial tumours to evaluate their phenotypic characteristics. PMID: 11678347
course of GFAP expression by astrocytes has been immunohistochemically investigated during the first 30 weeks after human brain injury. PMID: 10741479
We examined by immunohistochemistry the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in enteric ganglia of the chick embryo, using a polyclonal antibody. PMID: 9757063
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry in human cortex: a quantitative study using different antisera. PMID: 8734902
Coronal vibratome sections of the rat brain were immunostained for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) a major cytoskeletal protein typical for astrocytes. PMID: 8563713
acid-alcohol is a good fixative for fibrous astrocytes while paraformaldehyde is a better fixative for protoplasmic astrocytes. PMID: 2202491
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity in rabbit retina: effect of fixation. PMID: 2186920
Adult male and female rats were used for the immunodetection, a less accurate technique, and the immunohistochemistry for the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the anterior and posterior MeA. PMID: 12121815
Immunohistochemical localization of phosphorylated glial fibrillary acidic protein in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus from patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. PMID: 11782105

Radioimmunoassay (RIA)

We report the histochemical application of three monoclonal antibodies (Mab) produced in this laboratory, 1B4, 2E1, and 4A11, which are monospecific to GFAP by radioimmunoassay, immunoblot electrophoresis, and immunoperoxidase histochemistry. PMID: 3534145

Western Blot (WB)

Western blot analysis showed nestin expression only in the young OE, whereas GFAP was detected only in the aged OE. Immunohistochemistry showed that GFAP was localized in the olfactory supporting cells of the aged OE, with regional differences. PMID: 16158537
We employed quantitative gel electrophoresis and Western blotting to measure levels of GFAP in cerebella of 60 subjects divided equally among schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and normal controls. PMID: 15469203
we have employed immunofluorescence and Western blotting techniques to detect GFAP in skin sections of young and adult humans, normal rodents, and two types of mutant mice, as well as in rat lung sections, and in cultured human keratinocytes and fibroblasts. PMID: 17008879
We studied the GFAP and NFs of 68, 160 and 200 kDa in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with NCC by Western blotting. PMID: 12884016
Immunodetection and Western blotting assays have shown 2 mM of LiCl to induce alterations of GFAP expression both after 12 days of treatment and after 18-20 days. PMID: 12413149
specificity for GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) of oligoclonal IgG bands in the CSF of a patient with acute myelitis was demonstrated by isoelectric focusing and affinity blotting. Findings were confirmed by western blotting using a monoclonal antibody to GFAP as a reference. PMID: 8213065
GFAP protein was assayed by immunoblotting using a polyclonal antibody. PMID: 12020615