Journal: Neural Plasticity
Article Title: Diacylglycerol Signaling Underlies Astrocytic ATP Release
doi: 10.1155/2011/537659
Figure Lengend Snippet: The Munc13-1 protein is expressed in cultured astrocytes and reduction of Munc13-1 expression reduces astrocytic ATP release. (a) Immunocytochemistry for Munc13-1 in cultured astrocytes demonstrates expression of Munc13-1 in these cells: (green: Munc13-1, blue: DAPI). (b) Western blotting for Munc13-1 demonstrates a band at the expected size (~200 kD). Gel lanes were loaded with 60 μ g of cultured mouse astrocyte protein or 15 μ g of protein extracted from cultured mouse cortical neurons. (c) RT-PCR with primers designed against Munc13-1 of whole mouse brain mRNA and mRNA extracted from cultured astrocytes demonstrated a band for Munc13-1 at the expected size. Sequencing of these bands confirmed the presence of Munc13-1 in cultured astrocytes. (d) siRNAs designed against mouse Munc13-1 reduce the expression of Munc13-1 in transfected mouse astrocytes as measured by Western blot. Optical density of the Munc13-1 signal was standardized against the housekeeping protein GAPDH (scrambled siRNA n = 4, Munc13-1 siRNA = 4, P = 0.05). (e) The response of cultured astrocytes to OAG during one imaging session was measured for cultured astrocytes transfected with either scrambled control siRNAs or siRNAs directed against the Munc13-1 mRNA. The percentage of cells responding to OAG was significantly reduced after transfection with Munc13-1 siRNA (scrambled siRNA n = 6, Munc13-1 siRNA = 9; P = 0.017).
Article Snippet: To localize Munc13-1 protein, coverslips were incubated in affinity-purified rabbit polyclonal anti-Munc13-1 (1 : 100, Synaptic Systems) in blocking buffer for 48 hours at 4°C followed by the secondary antibody (goat antirabbit IgG-Alexa 588, 1 : 500, Invitrogen) for 1 hour at room temperature.
Techniques: Cell Culture, Expressing, Immunocytochemistry, Western Blot, Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sequencing, Transfection, Imaging