Production and characterization of mouse antibodies against the brain lipid sulfatide

One of the lipids in the myelin sheet is sulfatide, a galactosphingolipid. Our aim was to develop a test system to detect and characterize antibody against this lipid. Mouse anti-sulfatide antibody was estimated by a solid-phase microtube assay with labeled Staphylococcus aureus protein A. With labeled rabbit anti-mouse Ig antibody, there was no difference between mouse anti-sulfatide serum and control sera from animals immunized with unrelated antigens. Results show that BALB/c mice produce antibodies against sulfatide if this low molecular weight compound is injected together with cholesterol, lecithin and bovine serum albumin. The antisera are specific for sulfatide but crossreact with galactocerebroside. However, mouse IgM antibody binds to sulfatide-coated polyvinyl plates non-specifically. Thus, only test procedures which avoid detection of IgM antibody can be used to estimate antibody specific for sulfatide and probably also for other lipophilic compounds.