Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest family of plasma membrane receptors. GPCRs are involved in a large variety of physiological and also pathological processes in the central nervous system; thus, the understanding of their intracellular signaling pathways in the brain is a main goal in biomedical sciences. Several straightforward methods exist to measure the functionality of these receptors in vitro. However, measuring GPCR activity in native tissue is still a challenge, which is mainly due to the cross talk occurring in vivo between different signaling pathways. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is a basic signaling route for many GPCRs. Accordingly, determining GPCR-mediated ERK activation has become a popular and straightforward way to measure receptor signaling. Here, we describe the methodology used to assess GPCR-mediated ERK phosphorylation in brain slices from adult mice.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/ Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAF2014-55700-P, PCIN-2013-019-C03-03 and PIE14/00034), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA Academia-2010), and Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (SBO-140028) to FC. Also, F.C., M.G.-S., and V.F.-D. belong to the “Neuropharmacology and Pain” accredited research group (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2014 SGR 1251). We thank E. Castaño and B. Torrejón from the Scientific and Technical Services (SCT) group at the Bellvitge Campus of the University of Barcelona for their technical assistance.
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Gómez-Soler, M., Fernández-Dueñas, V., Ciruela, F. (2016). GPCR-Mediated MAPK/ERK Cascade Activation in Mouse Striatal Slices. In: Luján, R., Ciruela, F. (eds) Receptor and Ion Channel Detection in the Brain. Neuromethods, vol 110. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3064-7_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3064-7_29
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3063-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3064-7
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