Characterisation of monoclonal antibodies directed against the N-terminus of human mu and delta opioid receptors
Département de Neurobiologie, UMR 7104, Institut de Génétique et Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), 1 rue Laurent Fries, BP 10142, F-67404 Illkich cedex, France, massotte@igbmc.u-strasbg.fr
Abstract
Opioid receptors play an important role in the control of nociceptive pathways. They are involved in drug dependence as well as in a number of pathologies related to pain and inflammation. A better understanding of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms constitutes therefore a critical issue to decipher the role of opioid receptors. Such studies often require to acknowledge the presence of the receptor or to localize it within a cell or a tissue. In this context we generated monoclonal antibodies directed against the amino-terminus of human mu and delta opioid receptors. In immunofluorescence experiments, the antibodies detected recombinant opioid receptors expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells or mammalian cells as well as endogenous opioid receptors expressed in a human neuroblastoma cell line. Also they immunoprecipitated the unglycosylated form of recombinant opioid receptors. Finally anti-mu opioid receptor antibodies could be used to identify non glycosylated receptor in Western blotting experiments.