NFH protein was purified from bovine spinal cords following the method of Delacourte et al. ["Study of the 10-nm-filament fraction isolated during the standard microtubule prepartion” (1980). Biochem. J. 191(2): 543-546], followed by Prepcell purification (Bio-Rad). Antibodies were prepared by injecting purified NFH protein into laying hens and purifying the IgY fraction from eggs collected from hyper-immunized hens. These antibodies have been found to cross-react with NFH protein from a variety of species, including human, mouse and rat.