alpha-II-spectrin/alpha-Fodrin

The spectrin family of proteins were originally discovered as major components of the submembraneous cytoskeleton of osmotically lysed red blood cells. Work by Levine and Willard described a pair of about ~240-260kDa molecular weight bands which were transported at the slowest rate along mammalian axons. They named these proteins "fodrin" as antibody studies showed that they were localized in the sheath under the axonal membrane, but not in the core of the axon.

In the nervous system, alpha-II-spectrin or alpha-Fodrin is found predominantly in neurons. Our antibody can therefore be used to identify neurons and fragments derived from neuronal membranes in cells in tissue culture and in sectioned material. This antibody was raised against a recombinant construct containing the seventh, eighth and ninth of the so-called spectrin repeats.