Production and utilisation of monoclonal antibodies against myosin heavy chain isoforms in different species

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies specific to myosin heavy chains (MHC) of different species of animals :bovine, pig, fish, chicken, turkey, horse have been produced. They have been tested by immunohistology on sections of skeletal muscle in bovine, pig, fish, chicken and turkey and by ELISA in horse. The different antibodies selected in the project allowed new applications for the study of skeletal muscle. In particular, two monoclonal antibodies can be used to classify by immunohistology the fibres IIA and IIB : one of them recognizing MHC I and IIb in bovine and horse and MHC I, IIb and IIx in pig, the other recognizing MHC IIa and IIx in pig. Some antibodies revealed heterogeneity in the myosin composition of fibres of white and red fish muscles as in the composition of fast myosin in chicken and turkey muscles without allowing a precise distinction of fibres IIA and IIB in the two species. More, in the rainbow trout, an antibody recognized more specifically the myosins of little fibres markers of the myogenesis de novo in the white muscle. However the obtention of specific antibodies against MHC IIa and IIb usable in particular in ELISA has not been achieved and remains an important necessity.