ANTIBODY PROBES OF A PRESYNAPTIC CALCIUM CHANNEL

这个项目的长期目标是增加我们对 神经系统中的突触交流。分子机制是通过 哪些神经递质是在化学突触中释放的仍然不是 解决了。然而，已知神经末梢的钙通道 对调节这一过程至关重要。这项工作直接解决了 关于突触前钙的结构和性质的几个问题 渠道，这将导致试剂的生产，应该是 对研究这些蛋白质具有长期的实用价值。具体地说，这 该项目需要生产单抗和多克隆抗体 针对突触前钙通道的候选亚单位 最近由这个实验室克隆的。这些抗体将被用来 纯化该蛋白和其他候选钙通道亚基。这些 抗体也将用于该抗原的免疫定位。 在组织和亚细胞组分中。这些调查应该 极大地提高了我们对突触前钙通道和 它们对正常突触功能的贡献。这是一个至关重要的 应用研究这些通道是如何被调制的先决条件 健康和疾病中的环境和遗传因素。

The long-term goal of this project is to increase our understanding of synaptic communication in the nervous system. The molecular mechanism by which neurotransmitters are released at chemical synapses is still not resolved. However, it is known that calcium channels of nerve endings are vital for regulating this process. This work directly addresses questions concerning the structure and properties of presynaptic calcium channels, and it will lead to the production of reagents that should be of long-term utility for studying these proteins. Specifically, this project entails the production of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against a candidate subunit of a presynaptic calcium channel that was recently cloned by this laboratory. These antibodies will be used to purify this protein and other candidate calcium channel subunits. These antibodies will also be used for the immunolocalization of this antigen in tissues and subcellular fractions. These investigations should dramatically improve our knowledge of presynaptic calcium channels and how they contribute to normal synaptic function. This is a crucial prerequisite for applied studies of how these channels are modulated by environmental and genetic factors in health and disease.