Whether endogenous neurogenesis occurs in the adult cortex remains controversial. An increasing number of reports suggest that doublecortin (DCX)-positive neurogenesis persists in the adult primate cortex, attracting enormous attention worldwide. In this study, different DCX antibodies were used together with NeuN antibodies in immunohistochemistry and western blot assays using adjacent cortical sections from adult monkeys. Antibody adsorption, antigen binding, primary antibody omission and antibody-free experiments were used to assess specificity of the signals. We found either strong fluorescent signals, medium-weak intensity signals in some cells, weak signals in a few perikarya or near complete lack of labeling in adjacent cortical sections incubated with the various DCX antibodies. The putative DCX-positive cells in the cortex were also positive for NeuN, a specific marker of mature neurons. However, further experiments showed that most of these signals were either the result of antibody cross reactivity, the non-specificity of secondary antibodies or tissue autofluorescence. No confirmed DCX-positive cells were detected in the adult macaque cortex by immunofluorescence. Our findings show that DCX-positive neurogenesis does not occur in the cerebral cortex of adult primates, and that false-positive signals (artefacts) are caused by antibody cross reactivity and autofluorescence. The experimental protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Institute of Neuroscience, Beijing, China (approval No. IACUC-AMMS-2014-501).
Keywords: NeuN; adult neurogenesis; antigen neutralization; autofluorescence; cross reaction; cross reactivity; doublecortin; neocortex; non-specificity; primates; tissue adsorption.