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Molecular physiology of opioid receptors
Valný, Martin ; Novotný, Jiří (advisor) ; Hejnová, Lucie (referee)
The opioid receptors (OR) belong to the family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). ORs mediate the effects of the opioids, leading primarily to inhibition of neuroexcitability, predominantly through the class of the inhibitory G proteins Gi/Go. Cloning of ORs confirmed the existence of four subtypes of ORs, which mediate effects of different classes of opioid ligands. The major aim of this work is to summarize the current knowledge about characteristics and function of ORs at the molecular level. Acute exposition of ORs to their agonists results in activation of the signaling cascades that trigger mechanisms leading to analgesia. Chronic exposition of ORs to their agonists leads to desensitization and internalization of the receptors and induces adaptive changes in signal transduction system that suppresses the opioid action, and may result in the development of opioid tolerance and dependence. Although a big progress has been made in the field of understanding the molecular mechanisms of the OR-mediated signaling, there are still a lot of unresolved questions that are necessary to answer.
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Effect of cholesterol depletion on signalling cascade initiated with receptors coupled to G protein class Gq/G11
Ostašov, Pavel ; Svoboda, Petr (advisor) ; Teisinger, Jan (referee) ; Hof, Martin (referee)
Membrane domains are an important structure in plasamatic membrane. They concentrate various signaling molecules. Their main structural component is cholesterol and by its removal the membrane domains are disrupted. The aim of our work was to examine the effect of cholesterol depeletion on signaling initiated thyreothropin releasing hormone (TRH). Although its signaling cascade is located within membrane domains the receptor itself is not. We showed that cholesterol depletion by -cyclodextrin caused release of Gq/11 proteins and caveolin 2 from membrane domains. We also discovered that cholesterol depletion decreases potency of TRH to activate G proteins as well as induction of release of intracellular Ca2+ In the last part we investigated the effect of disruption of the cell membrane integrity by cholesterol depletion on thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor (TRH-R) surface mobility and internalization in HEK293 cells stably expressing TRH-R-eGFP fusion protein. CLSM studies indicated that the internalization of receptor molecules initiated by TRH stimulation was significantly attenuated. The detailed analysis of recovery of TRH-R-eGFP fluorescence in bleached spots of different sizes indicated that cholesterol depletion results in an increase of overall receptor mobility. We suggest that migration of...
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The study of membrane receptors by radioligands binding
Rejhová, Alexandra ; Hudeček, Jiří (advisor) ; Hejnová, Lucie (referee)
Drug addiction, opiates respectively, is a social problem which seriousness is currently on the rise. One of key elements causing addiction is tolerance to increasing doses of drug causing abstinence syndrome during withdrawal and craving. Opioid receptors are members of a large group of receptors coupled with heterotrimeric G-proteins (GPCR), whose properties can be investigated using agonist- stimulated binding [35 S] GTPγS. Many extracellular signals are transferred into a cell through GPCR. Opioid receptor agonists inhibit the activity of adenylyl cyclase and are coupled with G-protein group Gi/Go. This work is devoted to the study of changes in isolated plasma membranes of rat forebrain containing opioid receptors of healthy subjects with membranes acquired from morphine addicted subjects. The rats were long-term morphine treated in increasing doses, to develop the dependency. The comparison is done firstly by binding of [3 H]ouabain to Na,K-ATPase, which proves to be a negative standard of changes, secondly by binding [35 S]GTPγS to G-proteins, thereby providing the functional activity of G-protein in stimulating the binding by the agonist of δ-opioid receptors DADLE or agonist of µ-opioid receptors DAMGO. Furthermore, it has been studied the influence of prostaglandin E1 on binding [35...
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Adenosine signaling in Drosophila
KUČEROVÁ, Lucie
This thesis characterizes adenosine signalization in Drosophila and describes response to adenosine in various cell types. Extracellular adenosine mediates most of its physiological effects through its receptors but recent data also indicate that adenosine transport also has important physiological functions. It was shown in this thesis that adenosine stimulates only cAMP second messenger system in Drosophila cells endogenously expressing AdoR. The pharmacological profile of the DmAdoR was established using the cAMP functional assay. The utility of the agonist 2-chloroadenosine and antagonist SCH58261 were examined in flies in vivo and compared with phenotypes of DmAdoR mutants. The responses of Drosophila cells to adenosine mediated by adenosine transport were also examined. Different cell types exhibited striking differences in adenosine uptake and adenosine recycling that were closely connected with the regulation of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. This thesis provides an important foundation for the study of interactions between adenosine receptor and adenosine transport.
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