Cerebral distribution of the B-36 VDAC protein in rat, cow and man brain: immunocytochemical study

Polyclonal antiserum to a new voltage-dependent anion channel protein (B-36 VDAC) isolated during the purification of the GABAA receptor from bovine cerebral cortex was used to determine the localization of this protein in immunocytochemical preparations of cerebral cortex, cerebellum and hippocampal formation of rat, cow and human. The labeling was present in the Purkinje cells and some cells of the molecular layer of the rat cerebellum, as well as in pyramidal and non-pyramidal cells of the rat and human cerebral cortex; the labeling outlined the membrane surface. In the rat granule cells of the dentate gyrus and the pyramidal cells, the labelling was observed within the cells. These results indicate that the B-36 VDAC protein is heterogeneously distributed among different cerebral regions in different species and suggest that this protein would be associated with the alpha-1 subunit of the GABAA receptor (benzodiazepine binding sites).