Experiments on the use of DAMP to study retina and cultured neurons

Immunocytochemical localization of DAMP, a reagent used to detect low pH intracellular compartments, was studied in cultured neurons from rat hippocampus and in frog retinas. We find that DAMP is more sharply localized and that the immunocytochemical reaction is stronger when horseradish peroxidase or other proteins are included in the medium used to administer DAMP to the cells. A likely explanation is that the proteins enter acidified endocytic compartments and there provide sites to which DAMP molecules can be attached during fixation.