Neurocan is a nervous tissue-unique, secretory proteoglycan that carries predominantly chondroitin sulfate side chains. Its expression gradually decreases with the nervous tissue development. In the immature brain, neurocan exists inafull-length form with a 240 kDa-core glycoprotein, whereas it exists totally in proteolytic fragments of the NH2-terminal half (neurocan-N) with a 130 kDa-core glycopeptide and the COOH-terminal half (neurocan-C) with a 150 kDa-core glycopeptide. Neurocan is implicated in the neural network formation, and is a susceptibility factor for bipolar disorder. This proteoglycan is upregulated in the lesion site of the central nervous system, and is a major component of the glial scar. In addition, neurocan-N, not neurocan-C, is detectable in the perineuronal nets of some neurons. This antibody recognizes effectively neurocan-N as well as the full-length neurocan.

References:
1) Oohira, A., Matsui, F., Tokita, Y., Yamauchi, S., & Aono, S., Molecular interactions of neural chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in the brain development, (2000) Arch.Biochem.Biophys., 374, 24-34.
2) Fumiko Matsui, Masako Nishizuka, Yoko Yasuda, Sachiko Aono, Eiji Watanabe, Atsuhiko Oohira. Occurrence of a N-terminal proteolytic fragment of neurocan, not a C-terminal half, in a perineuronal net in the adult rat cerebrum, (1998) Brain Res., 790, 45-51
3) Matsui, F., Watanabe, E., & Oohira, A., Immunological identification of two proteglycan fragments derived from neurocan, a brain-specific chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, (1994) Neurochem. Int., 25, 425-431.

Neurocan is a nervous tissue-unique, secretory proteoglycan that carries predominantly chondroitin sulfate side chains. Its expression gradually decreases with the nervous tissue development. In the immature brain, neurocan exists inafull-length form with a 240 kDa-core glycoprotein, whereas it exists totally in proteolytic fragments of the NH2-terminal half (neurocan-N) with a 130 kDa-core glycopeptide and the COOH-terminal half (neurocan-C) with a 150 kDa-core glycopeptide. Neurocan is implicated in the neural network formation, and is a susceptibility factor for bipolar disorder. This proteoglycan is upregulated in the lesion site of the central nervous system, and is a major component of the glial scar. In addition, neurocan-N, not neurocan-C, is detectable in the perineuronal nets of some neurons. This antibody recognizes effectively neurocan-N as well as the full-length neurocan.

References:
1) Oohira, A., Matsui, F., Tokita, Y., Yamauchi, S., & Aono, S., Molecular interactions of neural chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in the brain development, (2000) Arch.Biochem.Biophys., 374, 24-34.
2) Fumiko Matsui, Masako Nishizuka, Yoko Yasuda, Sachiko Aono, Eiji Watanabe, Atsuhiko Oohira. Occurrence of a N-terminal proteolytic fragment of neurocan, not a C-terminal half, in a perineuronal net in the adult rat cerebrum, (1998) Brain Res., 790, 45-51
3) Matsui, F., Watanabe, E., & Oohira, A., Immunological identification of two proteglycan fragments derived from neurocan, a brain-specific chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, (1994) Neurochem. Int., 25, 425-431.