Abstract
Antibodies can be a powerful tool to detect receptor expression at the protein level. Their main advantage is the potential of good spatial resolution in immunohistochemistry, whereas their main limitation is that they yield less quantitative results as compared to radioligand binding. However, most available antibodies against muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes have shown poor target selectivity when tested stringently, e.g., often yielded similar staining patterns in wild-type and knockout animals or in cells transfected with the target as compared to a closely related receptor subtype. On the other hand, a small number of antibodies have been validated to some degree for selectivity for a muscarinic receptor subtype. Protocols for their use in immunohistochemistry are discussed. However, it remains a key learning that each investigator should carefully establish whether the intended antibody is indeed selective for the target under investigation under the assay conditions being applied.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Schneider T, Hein P, Michel-Reher M et al (2005) Effects of ageing on muscarinic receptor subtypes and function in rat urinary bladder. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 372:71–78
Caulfield MP, Birdsall NJM (1998) International Union of Pharmacology. XVII. Classification of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Pharmacol Rev 50:279–290
Michel MC, Wieland T, Tsujimoto G (2009) How reliable are G-protein-coupled receptor antibodies? Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 377:385–388
Kirkpatrick P (2009) Specificity concerns with antibodies for receptor mapping. Nat Rev Drug Discov 8:278
Hamdani N, van der Velden J (2009) Lack of specificity of antibodies directed against human beta-adrenergic receptors. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 379:403–407
Bodei S, Arrighi N, Sigala S (2009) Should we be cautious on the use of commercially available antibodies to dopamine receptors? Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 379:413–415
Lu X, Bartfai T (2009) Analyzing the validity of GalR1 and GalR2 antibodies using knockout mice. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 379:417–420
Cernecka H, Pradidarcheep W, Lamers WH et al (2014) Rat β3-adrenoceptor protein expression: antibody validation and distribution in rat gastrointestinal and urogenital tissues. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 387:1117–1127
Cernecka H, Ochodnicky P, Lamers WH et al (2012) Specificity evaluation of antibodies against human β3-adrenoceptors. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 385:875–882
Jositsch G, Papadakis T, Haberberger RV et al (2009) Suitability of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antibodies for immunohistochemistry evaluated on tissue sections of receptor gene-deficient mice. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 379:389–395
Rhodes KJ, Trimmer JS (2006) Antibodies as valuable neuroscience research tools versus reagents of mass distraction. J Neurosci 26:8017–8020
Pradidarcheep W, Stallen J, Labruyere WT et al (2009) Lack of specificity of commercially available antisera against muscarinic and adrenergic receptors. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 379:397–402
Grol S, Essers PBM, van Koeveringe GA et al (2009) M3 muscarinic receptor expression on suburothelial interstitial cells. BJU Int 104:398–405
Grol S, Nile CJ, Martinez-Martinez P et al (2011) M3 muscarinic receptor like immuno-reactivity (M3-IR) in sham-operated and obstructed guinea pig bladders. J Urol 185:1959–1966
van Straaten HWM, He Y, van Duist MM et al (2006) Cellular concentrations of glutamine synthetase in murine organs. Biochem Cell Biol 84:215–231
Fischer AH, Jacobson KA, Rose J et al (2008) Cryosectioning tissues. CSH Protoc 2:1–2
Yamashita S (2007) Heat-induced antigen retrieval: mechanisms and application to histochemistry. Prog Histochem Cytochem 41:141–200
Syrbu SI, Cohen MB (2011) An enhanced antigen-retrieval protocol for immunohistochemical staining of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Methods Mol Biol 717:101–110
Gadd VL (2014) Combining immunodetection with histochemical techniques: the effect of heat-induced antigen-retrieval on picro-Sirius red staining. J Histochem Cytochem 62:902–906
Pradidarcheep W, Labruyere WT, Dabhoiwala NF et al (2008) Lack of specificity of commercially available antisera: better specifications needed. J Histochem Cytochem 56:1099–1111
Acknowledgment
We thank Prof. Wouter H. Lamers, Academisch Medisch Centrum, Universiteit van Amsterdam, for his continued advice and support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Pradidarcheep, W., Michel, M.C. (2016). Use of Antibodies in the Research on Muscarinic Receptor Subtypes. In: Myslivecek, J., Jakubik, J. (eds) Muscarinic Receptor: From Structure to Animal Models. Neuromethods, vol 107. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2858-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2858-3_5
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2857-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2858-3
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols