Objective To establish a
method to detect neuromyelitis optiea (NMO)-
IgG in
patients serum using
indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA).
Methods The normal
tissues (
cerebellum/
midbrain,
kidney and
stomach) from C57
mice were cryosectioned onto microscope slides as detective substrate. For NMO-
IgG detection, isolated
serum from
patient with NMO,
multiple sclerosis (MS),
optic neuritis or
myelitis was incubated with the
tissue sections on the slide at 4℃ overnight and subsequently incubated with a
fluorochrome-cojugated lgG specific for
human. For double immunostaining with aquaporius-4 (AQP4), the slides were incubated with primary antibody of AQP4 and
secondary antibody of
IgG-TRITC.
Detection of NMO-
IgG and its co-
localization with AQP4 was analyzed using
fluorescence microscope. Results All 182
serum samples from
patients were tested using IFA. Some samples revealed a characteristic immunohistochemical
staining of NMO-
IgG in
mouse CNS
tissues, predominately in pia and subpia, and
capillaries in
white and
grey matter in the
cerebellum,
midbrain, and
spinal cord. Double immunostaining with AQP4 demonstrated the co-
localization of NMO-
IgG with AQP4. Conclusions We established an IFA using a substrate from C57
mouse cerebellum/
midbrain,
kidney and
stomach tissue to detect NMO-
IgG in
patient serum. This
method is specific and efficient in
detection and may be useful in
diagnosis and
differential diagnosis of
neuromyelitis optica.