Abstract
Saporin conjugates have proven extremely versatile and valuable in the selective destruction of a variety of cell types. In the nervous system, the use of saporin-conjugated toxins has generally been directed toward neurons. We were interested in whether saporin conjugates could be used to target other nervous tissue cell types, particularly the myelin-forming cells. Taking advantage of the fact that myelin is rich in GM1 ganglioside and that the B fragment of cholera toxin has a high affinity for GM1, we used a conjugate of the B fragment of cholera toxin and saporin (CTB-sap) to target myelin-producing cells (oligodendrocytes) in the central nervous system (CNS) (Fig. 1). We found that CTB-sap is effective in removing oligodendrocytes in addition to other glial cells and largely leaves neurons intact. We successfully used CTB-sap to study demyelination and remyelination in the spinal cord (1), and our preliminary results suggest that CTB-sap will be useful for inducing demyelinating lesions in other parts of the CNS.
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© 2005 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
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Ohara, P.T., Kelley, K., Jasmin, L. (2005). B Fragment of Cholera Toxin Conjugated to Saporin. In: Wiley, R.G., Lappi, D.A. (eds) Molecular Neurosurgery With Targeted Toxins. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-896-0_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-896-0_13
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