Coexpression of vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein in astrocytes of the adult rat optic nerve.

The localization of vimentin (VIM) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was studied immunohistochemically in adult rat optic nerve. Consecutive Epon semithin tissue sections were immunostained respectively for VIM or GFAP. With this method, both antigens were detected in consecutive sections of the same cell. According to our results, most astrocytes in the adult rat optic nerve showed coexpression of VIM and GFAP.