The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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Measurements of neuron-specific and glia-specific proteins were used to characterize chemical-induced injury to the rat CNS. Trimethyltin (TMT), a neurotoxicant that preferentially damages neurons in limbic structures, was employed to produce consistent, time-dependent, dose-related, cell type-specific alterations in CNS morphology. Brain weights and histology were used to verify the cytopathological effects of TMT. ⋯ Immunohistochemistry of GFAP revealed widespread astrocytic reactivity as a consequence of exposure to TMT, a response that resulted in part from the proliferation of astrocytes. Additional neurotypic proteins altered by TMT-induced injury included one of the neurofilament (NF) triplet proteins (p68) and a protein with the electrophoretic characteristics of neuron-specific enolase (NSE). The data indicate that measurements of neurotypic and gliotypic proteins may be used to characterize the temporal and regional patterns of neuronal and glial responses to injury.