The correspondence between the labeling patterns of antibody RT97, neurofilaments, microtubule associated protein 1B and tau varies with cell types and development stages of chicken retina

The correspondence between the labeling patterns of antibody RT97, neurofilaments (NF-M and NF-H), microtubule associated protein 1B (MAP1B) and tau, were studied in the developing chicken. At embryonic day 3 (E3), intense RT97 immunoreactivity (IR) was found to be localized in cells in the region adjacent to the intraretinal space, which separates the inner and outer layers of the optic cup, and this was sustained at E8. However, this pattern changed dramatically at E12, as the intensities of RT97 IR increased in the inner retinal layer, while the outermost layers showed only weak IR. The adult stage retina showed RT97 IR within the nerve fibers of the ganglion cells, the processes of the amacrine cells and the photoreceptors. Additional immunostainings for NF-M, -H, MAP1B and tau showed that the observed changes in RT97 IRs were due to the different expressions of these proteins at different development stages.