Antibodies to small neurotransmitter molecules and peptides: production and application of antibodies to dopamine, serotonin, GABA, vasopressin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, neuropeptide Y, somatostatin and substance P

Abstract

In the present paper a procedure is described by which antibodies to small transmitter molecules can be obtained using glutaraldehyde as coupling reagent. This procedure was developed based on the condition that the immunogen used for the preparation of the antibody should, as much as possible, have the same identity as the transmitter molecule fixed in the tissue. In order to achieve this goal, aminergic, amino acid, or peptidergic transmitters were conjugated to a carrier protein by using glutaraldehyde. The resulting antibodies could be used in an immunocytochemical procedure which allowed the detection of these transmitters together with peptides after a single tissue fixation procedure with glutaraldehyde or paraformaldehyde.