Distribution of P2 antigen in neural and non-neural bovine tissues.

Rabbit antisera to bovine nerve preparations were used to study the tissue distribution in the ox of P2, an antigen specific for the peripheral nervous system. Double diffusion gel precipitation tests were able to demonstrate P2 in spinal nerves, trigeminal nerve, spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and pons, but not in higher centers of the CNS, optic nerve, or non-neural tissues. A highly sensitive inhibition of enzyme immunoassay was developed to detect and quantitate low levels of P2. By this assay, P2 was found to be most concentrated in peripheral nerves, with decreasing amounts found in the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, pons, cerebellum, and cerebral peduncle. No P2 was found in the thalamus, cerebrum, or optic nerve; however, low levels of P2 were detected in the adrenal medulla, a non-neural tissue composed largely of cells derived from the embryonic neural crest region.