Figure 1.

Deltoid muscle intramuscular motor nerves and sural nerve fascicle immunofluorescent labeling with anti-peripherin, anti-choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT), and anti-neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) immunoglobulins (Ig). These were used as positive controls to validate the immunoglobulins’ specificity. Anti-peripherin Ig stains all axons; anti-ChAT stains structures positive for ChAT, such as cholinergic neurons of motor nerves; and anti-NCAM antibodies stain non-myelinating Schwann cells surrounding unmyelinated axons. (A–C) Control labeling of deltoid muscle showing nerve fibers (anti-peripherin) green labeled axons that are also positive for choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT), indicating that they are motor nerve fibers. A, Anti-peripherin (green) immunoreactive nerve fibers. B, Anti-ChAT immunoreactivity (red). C, Merged view indicates double labeling of all the nerve fibers (yellow-orange). (D, E) Immunofluorescence of a cross-section of a sural nerve fascicule with anti-peripherin (green) in D to identify axons and with co-labeling of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) which labels non-myelinating Schwann cells (red) in E. Unmyelinated sensory fibers are identified as yellow as they are labeled with both peripherin and NCAM, whereas myelinated fibers remain labeled green.