Tailor-made Antibodies
and Tools for Life Science

The Brain - The Most Extraordinary Structure In The Universe

 

Overview

 

The Synapse

Synapses are the communication interfaces between nerve cells. On the presynaptic side, electrical excitation leads to the release of neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles into the synaptic cleft. Corresponding receptors on the postsynaptic side convert this chemical signal back into an electrical one for further transmission.
Synaptic Systems offers one of the largest collections of antibodies against synaptic proteins validated for a growing panel of applications.

 
 

The Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB)

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a biological and functional barrier in the central nervous system, and comprises various types of cells including endothelial cells, pericytes and astrocytes. The BBB limits the influx of intravascular contents including serum proteins, blood cells and toxic substances into the cerebral parenchyma, and pumps out cerebral waste materials. The BBB also expresses a range of transporters essential for movement of amino acids and glucose into the cerebral parenchyma to support the function and survival of brain cells. These static barrier functions and transportation systems of the BBB are regulated by endothelial cells, pericytes and astrocytes. Under physiological conditions, BBB permeability is strictly regulated by cell–cell interactions and cell-derived bioactive factors. The static barrier function depends on endothelial tight junctions (TJs) and the basal lamina. The TJ is formed by TJ-related proteins including claudin, occludin and zonula occluden. The basal lamina is a layer of extracellular matrix known as the basement membrane, which consists of collagen, laminin and fibronectin. Astrocytes exist around cerebral microvessels and control BBB functions via astrocyte-derived factors and astrocytic terminal processes termed endfeet. Astrocytic endfeet express the potassium channel, Kir4.1, and aquaporin-4, which support the BBB function by controlling the ion and water balance. 

 
 

Neuroinflammation

Acute inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS) is an instant response to the appearance of damaging stimuli and helps to combat infections and promotes tissue repair. Neuroinflammation refers to a chronic inflammation of the CNS which occurs when the host cannot reverse acute infection. Common causes include craniocerebral traumata, spinal cord injuries, viral infections, toxic metabolites, autoimmunity and ageing. Neuroinflammation is caused by resident immune cells and peripheral immune cells that cross the blood-brain barrier and is often associated with an increased blood-brain-barrier (BBB) permeability and breakdown. Neuroinflammation plays a key role in numerous neurodegenerative diseases of both adult and pediatric onset (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Gaucher disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)). 

 
 

Recombinant Antibodies

Synaptic Systems offers a growing portfolio of recombinant antibodies. The variable domains of well-functioning mouse or rat monoclonal antibodies are fused with constant regions from various species, resulting in chimeric recombinant antibodies that retain all the antigen recognition characteristics of the original monoclonal antibodies. Synaptic Systems provides recombinant antibodies with constant regions from rabbit, guinea pig, rat, human and chicken. They can be used with conventional species-specific secondary antibodies. The recombinant antibodies are produced under well-defined and controlled conditions as an infinite resource with minimal batch-to-batch variation. They are expressed in mammalian cells and purified from cell culture supernatants so that no animals need to be sacrificed for their repeated production.

 
 

Cell Type Markers

Each cell type has a characteristic and unique gene expression profile, which can be used for classification. Some genes show a very high expression in one cell type, and are not abundant in all other cell types. These genes and their resulting proteins are called cell-type-specific and can be used as markers to identify the specific cell type of interest. 
Synaptic System offers a wide range of antibodies against neuronal, glial and immune-cell markers. 

 
 

SYSY HistoSure

 
 

HistoSure is the product line of SYSY covering antibodies, specially validated for immunohistochemical applications. With this product line we offer antibodies for cancer and immunology research, as well as special species-specific antibodies for mouse-human chimeric tissues such as xenograft models and humanized mice.