title: Predominant presence of beta-arrestin-1 in small sensory neurons of rat dorsal root ganglia.
abstract: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western immunoblot analyses were performed to demonstrate the presence of beta-arrestin-1 in rat dorsal root ganglion. beta-Arrestin-1 existed as two alternatively spliced variants, although predominantly in its untruncated form. Several factors affected the visualization of the truncated version on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel; however, the isoform was clearly detected on a two-dimensional gel. We further localized beta-arrestin-1 immunoreactivity in the sensory neurons of the 5th lumbar dorsal root ganglia. Beta-arrestin-1-immunoreactive neurons accounted for approximately 60% of the sensory neurons, and approximately 88% of the beta-Arrestin-1 immunoreactive neurons fell into a category of small neurons having a diameter of 10-30 microm. Members of the arrestin superfamily play crucial roles in the desensitization of G protein-coupled receptors. Our data demonstrating the presence of beta-arrestin-1 in the rat dorsal root ganglion at both messenger RNA and protein levels support the idea that beta-arrestin- participates in receptor desensitization in the sensory neurons. Furthermore, because small-size neurons of dorsal root ganglion are often implicated in nociception, the predominant presence of beta-arrestin-1 immunoreactivity in small-size sensory neurons suggests that beta-arrestin-1 may have a role modulating nociceptive signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City 73190, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Komori
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Cain
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D019390:Arrestins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D048429:Cell Size; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008297:Male; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000071559:beta-Arrestin 1; D000071557:beta-Arrestins
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; C000605256:Arrb1 protein, rat; D019390:Arrestins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000071559:beta-Arrestin 1; D000071557:beta-Arrestins; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins