Neuronal tracers are important tools in the neuroscience field and are widely used to map the connections and pathways of neurons by travelling along axons and dendrites. These tools can be broadly classified into two general categories depending upon the direction in which they flow. Reagents that are taken up by the cell body and travel in the direction of signal transmission from the cell body towards the synaptic terminals are known as anterograde axonal tracers. Anterograde tracers are useful in elucidating the specific targets of neurons. Reagents that travel in the opposite direction, taken up by synaptic terminals and transported back to the cell body, are known as retrograde tracers. Retrograde tracers are useful for determining the sources of input to neurons.
Antibodies Inc. provides a large selection of both anterograde and retrograde axonal tracers such as our widely used Hydroxystilbamidine (aka Fluoro-GoldTM), Cholera Toxin Subunit B, Phaseolus Vulgaris Leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) and a comprehensive selection of Dextrans conjugated to fluorescent dyes across the spectrum in a variety of molecular weights.
