Signal Transduction in Cultured Neural Cells

神经细胞通过与细胞表面特定受体蛋白结合的化学信使（神经递质）相互交流。由于许多这些递质不能穿透细胞，它们的信息由细胞内部产生的“第二信使”分子携带，这些分子接收来自外表面受体-神经递质复合物的信号。这些第二信使通常是g蛋白，已经鉴定出多种g蛋白。本研究的主要目的是确定哪个特定的g蛋白与哪个特定的膜受体结合（在其内部方面）形成生理功能单元。这些研究将使用一种清洁剂来渗透膜，使纯化的G蛋白和代表天然G蛋白特定区域的合成多肽进入。合成片段结合并抑制原生g蛋白与受体结构的结合。GTP与一种光激活成分相关，该成分与g蛋白结合，并在适当的神经递质存在时不可逆地激活受体复合物，也将用于定量神经递质激活。该研究的长期目标是确定特定细胞和器官行为的神经递质过程的特异性，从而使我们了解整个生物体中与信息传递和存储（学习和记忆）相关的分子过程。

Nerve cells communicate with one another via chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) which bind to specific receptor proteins on the cell surface. Since many of these transmitters do not penetrate the cell their message is carried by "second messenger" molecules generated in the interior of the cell on signal from the outer surface receptor-neurotransmitter complex. These second messengers are often G-proteins of which there have been a variety identified. The primary aim of this research is to determine which specific G-protein binds to which specific membrane receptor (on its interior aspect) to form the physiologically functional unit. These studies will employ a detergent to permeabilize the membrane to allow the entrance of purified G- proteins and synthetic polypeptides that represent specific regions of the native G-protein. The synthetic segments bind and inhibit inative G-protein binding to the receptor structure. GTP associated with a photo-activated component that binds to the G-protein and irreversibly activates the receptor complex in the presence of the appropriate neurotransmitter will also be used to quantitate neurotransmitter activation. The long-term goal of the research is to identify the specificity of the neurotransmitter processes for specific cell and organ behaviors that lead to our understanding of the molecular processes associated with transmission and storage of information (learning and memory) in the whole organisms.