Description
Product Characteristics: GFAP (Glial fibrillary acidic protein) is a member of intermediate filament (IF) protein family which consists mainly of cytokeratin, GFAP, desmin, and vimentin. Like other IF proteins, GFAP is composed of an amino terminal head domain, a central rod domain, and a carboxyl terminal tail domain. The amino terminal region of GFAP shares considerable sequence divergence with other IF proteins, and probably participates in mediation of the tissue specific functions. GFAP intermediate filament serves as a useful marker of astroglia in the brain since it is specifically expressed in astrocytes and certain other astroglia. This protein may be required for communications between Bergmann glia and Purkinje cells during long-term depression induction and maintenance.Rabbit Anti-GFAP Polyclonal Antibody is developed in rabbit using a synthetic KLH-coupled peptide from within 250-300 of human GFAP (Swiss Prot: P14136).
Target Information: This gene encodes one of the major intermediate filament proteins of mature astrocytes. It is used as a marker to distinguish astrocytes from other glial cells during development. Mutations in this gene cause Alexander disease, a rare disorder of astrocytes in the central nervous system. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2008]