Neurofilaments
These are major structural components of the neuron and are particularly concentrated in axons. They are defined by their appearance in the electron microscope as 10nm diameter filaments found in the cytoplasm of neurons but not of other cells in the nervous system. Neurofilaments are related to but distinct from 10nm filaments found in other cell types, such as the keratin filaments of skin. Neurofilament accumulations are seen in many neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), giant axon neuropathies and many others. It has long been thought that some of these disease states are actually caused by aberrant transport, processing or expression of neurofilaments. Recently point mutations in some of the neurofilament proteins have been shown to be causative of certain neurological disorders, the best example being certain types of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a rather nasty and fortunately rather group of neurological diseases.
Neurofilaments are composed of three major subunits known as NF-L, NF-M and NF-H (so-called for their low middle and high positions on SDS-PAGE gels). In recent years it has been realized that neurofilaments may also contain the proteins a-internexin, peripherin, nestin and vimentin. I've made antibodies to most of these proteins and you can get these antibodies from quite a few companies now, including my own company, EnCor Biotechnology Inc. There are also several interesting neurofilament associated proteins such as plectin, MACF and dystonin which appear to integrate neurofilaments into a functioning network with microtubules and microfilaments. If you want to find out more about neurofilaments you could read my book on the subject, "Neurofilaments", which was published by Springer-Verlag in July 1998. You can buy this book for the rather substantial sum of $179 or DM 269. You should also be able to get the book from online book stores, such as Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, though it might take a while.
I've basically been interested in using the proteins as markers of various kinds of cell type, structure and disease state and also, more recently, in the use of them as biomarkers of injury and disease states.