Specific antibodies against aspartate and their immunocytochemical application in the rat brain

An immunological approach to visualize aspartate in the rat brain was attempted by raising antibodies against this acidic amino acid. Using an adapted ELISA method, their specificity was tested by competition experiments between aspartate conjugated via glutaraldehyde to various protein-carriers and either non-conjugated aspartate or conjugated amino acids, preincubated with anti-aspartate antibodies. Their titer and specificity were found high enough to allow their use in immunocytochemistry which demonstrated the presence of a large number of aspartate-containing cell-bodies in many areas of the brain.