title: Diverse tissue expression of rat alpha 2-adrenergic receptor genes.
abstract: Previously, we have reported two major alpha 2-adrenergic receptor transcripts in rat brain of 3.8 and 3.0 kb and the cloning and characterization of the rat brain complementary DNA (cDNA) (RB alpha 2C) specific for the 3.0-kb messenger RNA. In this report, we used rat brain cDNAs specific for the 3.0 and 3.8 kb transcripts, which encode the alpha 2C- and alpha 2A-adrenergic receptors, respectively, and the RNG alpha 2 cDNA, which encodes for the nonglycosylated alpha 2B-adrenergic receptor in rat, to study tissue-specific expression of the three alpha 2-adrenergic receptor genes in rat. To eliminate cross-hybridization of probes with transcripts from other alpha 2 genes, we subcloned fragments that encode for the highly divergent third cytoplasmic loop of each rat alpha 2-adrenergic receptor cDNA and used RNase protection analysis to detect specific transcripts. We show that the three rat alpha 2-adrenergic receptor genes have diverse patterns of tissue expression, and although transcripts specific for each alpha 2-adrenergic receptor gene are found in brain and kidney, the levels of expression of each subtype differ in these tissues. We speculate on the significance of tissue-specific expression of the alpha 2-adrenergic receptor genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02118.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Handy
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Flordellis
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Bogdanova
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bresnahan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gavras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression; D015335:Molecular Probes; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012260:Ribonucleases; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D015335:Molecular Probes; D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha; D012313:RNA; D012260:Ribonucleases