Aquaporin 4 Antibody / AQP4

Aquaporin 4 is found in the basolateral cell membrane of principal collecting duct cells and provides a pathway for water to exit these cells. The gene of AQP4 is mapped to 18q11.2-q12.1. Similar to other aquaporins, the AQP4 gene is composed of 4 exons encoding 127, 55, 27, and 92 amino acids separated by introns of 0.8, 0.3, and 5.2 kb. Unlike other aquaporins, an alternative coding initiation sequence (designated exon 0) was located 2.7 kb upstream of exon 1. When spliced together, M1 and the subsequent 10 amino acids are encoded by exon 0; the next 11 amino acids and M23 are encoded by exon 1. AQP4 is expressed in astrocytes and is upregulated by direct insult to the central nervous system. And AQP4 is the predominant water channel in the brain and has an important role in brain water homeostasis. It is abundant in mammalian brain and is concentrated in astrocytic foot processes at the blood-brain barrier.