Abstract
Our experience demonstrates that it is difficult to identify MOPR in rat and mouse brains by western blot, in part due to low abundance of the receptor and a wide relative molecular mass (Mr) range of the receptor associated with its heterogeneous glycosylation states. Here, we describe generation and purification of anti-μC (a rabbit polyclonal anti-MOPR antibody), characterization of its specificity in immunoblotting of HA-tagged MOPR expressed in a cell line, and ultimately, unequivocal detection of the MOPR in brain tissues by western blot with multiple rigorous controls. In particular, using brain tissues from MOPR knockout (K/O) mice as the negative controls allowed unambiguous identification of the MOPR band, since the anti-MOPR antibody, even after affinity purification, recognizes nonspecific protein bands. The MOPR was resolved as a faint, broad, and diffuse band with a wide Mr range of 58–84 kDa depending on brain regions and species. Upon deglycosylation to remove N-linked glycans by PNGase F (but not Endo H), the MOPR became a dense and sharp band with Mr of ~43 kDa, close to the theoretical Mr of its deduced amino acid sequences. Thus, MOPRs in rodent brains are differentially glycosylated by complex type of N-linked glycans in brain region- and species-specific manners. Furthermore, we characterized the MOPR in an A112G/N38D-MOPR knockin mouse model that possesses the equivalent substitution of the A118G/N40D SNP in the human MOPR gene. The substitution removes one of the four and five N-linked consensus glycosylation sites of the mouse and human MOPR, respectively. We demonstrated that the Mr of the MOPR in A112G mouse brains was lower than that in wild-type mouse brains, and that the difference was due to lower degrees of N-linked glycosylation.
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Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R01 DA017302 and P30 DA013429).
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Huang, P., Chen, C., Liu-Chen, LY. (2015). Detection of Mu Opioid Receptor (MOPR) and Its Glycosylation in Rat and Mouse Brains by Western Blot with Anti-μC, an Affinity-Purified Polyclonal Anti-MOPR Antibody. In: Spampinato, S. (eds) Opioid Receptors. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1230. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1708-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1708-2_11
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