Merck, AB5622, Anti-Microtubule-Associated Protein 2 (MAP2) Antibody

The microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) is an abundant neuronal cytoskeletal protein that binds to tubulin and stabilizes microtubules. (Herzog and Weber, 1978). MAP2 is essential for the development and maitenance of neuronal morphology (Matus, 1991). In neurons MAP2 occurs as three primary isoforms, the high molecular weight MAP2a, MAP2b, and the low molecular weight MAP2c, that result from alternative splicing of the MAP2 gene (Chung et al., 1996). The low molecular weight isoform, MAP2c, is expressed in developing brain and is down-regulated during brain maturation, whereas the high molecular weight MAP2b is expressed in both developing and adult brain. The MAP2a appears only after brain maturation (Tucker, 1990). All these forms bind to microtubules through a domain near the carboxyl terminus that contains either three or four similar repeats of a 31-amino-acid motif (Lewis et al., 1988). MAP2 together with MAP4 and tau proteins belong to the family of thermostable proteins associated with microtubules.