Glial Marker Antibodies

Astrocyte Marker Antibodies

Astrocytes are a type of glia in the CNS that have many functions including maintaining brain homeostasis, regulating neurotransmiiters and promoting synapse formation. Proteins such as GFAP and S100B are predominantly expressed by astrocytes making them excellent markers for identifying them.

Oligodendrocyte Marker Antibodies

Oligodendrocytes, a type of glia, are the myelinating cells of the central nervous system. Proteins expressed in various phases of oligodendrocyte development serve as useful markers in distinguishing them.

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells - Neural-glial antigen 2 (NG2) is a hallmark protein of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) and is therefore widely used as a marker to identify them.

Mature oligodendrocytes - Proteins such as Olig2 are essential for oligodendrocyte development and are therefore widely used in identifying mature oligodendrocytes.

Microglia Markers

Microglia are of myeloid lineage and migrate to the CNS during development to become the resident immune cells of the brain. They have become increasingly implicated in the progression of various neurodegenerative diseases.

Quiescent - TMEM119 expression readily distinguishes resident microglia from blood-derived macrophages, making it a highly specific microglia marker.

Activated - Proteins such as Iba1 which are upregulated in microglial activation serve as useful markers to identify microglia in their activated state.