Abstract

To elucidate which portions of the opioid receptor molecules are involved in the ligand selectivity, we have expressed chimeric receptors between the rat delta- and mu-opioid receptors from cDNAs and analysed their ligand binding properties. We demonstrate that the major binding determinant for the delta-selective enkephalin-related peptide, [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin, resides within the region comprising the transmembrane segments V-VII and the intervening loop regions. On the other hand, the region spanning from the intracellular loop I to the amino-terminal half of the transmembrane segment III is shown to be involved in determining high-affinity binding of the mu-selective enkephalin-related peptides, [D-Ala2, MePhe4,Gly-ol5]enkephalin and [D-Ala2,MePhe4,Met-ol5]enkephalin, whereas the major determinant for binding of the mu-selective alkaloids, morphine and codeine, is demonstrated to exist in the region spanning the transmembrane segments V-VII. These results indicate that distinct regions of the opioid receptor determine the selectivity for the delta- and the mu-selective enkephalin-related peptides and that the binding determinant for the mu-selective alkaloids is distinct from that for the mu-selective enkephalin-related peptides.

Highlights

  • In the BA series chimeras, the most remarkable change in the affinity to DAMO was found between BAI and BA2. These results suggest that the region spanning from intracellular loop (ICL) I to the amino-terminal half ofTM III determine the high-affinity binding of the JL-selective enkephalin-related peptides

  • The high-affinity binding of DPDPE, all-selective enkephalin-related peptide, was shown to be determined mainly by the region spanning TM V-VII of the Il-receptor and partly by the region spanning from the carboxyl-terminal half of TM III to extracellular loop (ECL) II and the carboxyl-terminal cytoplasmic region

  • The region spanning from ICL I to the amino-terminal half ofTM III of the jL-receptor was demonstrated to contain the major determinant for selectivity to DAGO and DAMO, jL-selective enkephalinrelated peptides

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Summary

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

Construction of cDNAs Encoding Chimeric Receptors-Chimeric 01J.L cDNAs were constructed by exchange of restriction fragments from the cDNAs encoding the rat 0- and u-opioid receptors [7]. The restriction sites used and their positions in the deduced amino acid sequences of the o-receptorlJ.L-receptor, respectively, were as follows (Fig. 1):Acc!, at. The entire protein-coding sequences of the wild-type and chimeric cDNAs were inserted into the HindUI site of an expression vector pKCRH2 [17]. 10% fetal bovine serum were transfected by the calcium phosphate method [18] with expression vectors containing the wild-type or chimeric cDNAs. After 48-72-h incubation at 37°C, crude membrane was prepared from the transfected cells. 1,000 X g for 10 min and the precipitate suspended in the same buffer, homogenized, and centrifuged at 1,000 X g for 10 min. The apparent dissociation constants (Kd ) for opioid ligands were obtained by displacement of [3HJEKC binding by unlabeled ligands in the presence of 10 nM [3HJEKC and calculation by the equation Kd = IC501(1 +.

RESULTS
D4 o D5
DISCUSSION

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