Gephyrin selective intrabodies as a new strategy for studying inhibitory receptor clustering

J Mol Neurosci. 2008 Feb;34(2):141-8. doi: 10.1007/s12031-007-9018-6. Epub 2007 Nov 16.

Abstract

The microtubule-binding protein gephyrin is known to play a pivotal role in targeting and clustering postsynaptic inhibitory receptors. Here, the Intracellular Antibodies Capture Technology (IATC) was used to select two single-chain antibody fragments or intrabodies, which, fused to nuclear localization signals (NLS), were able to efficiently and selectively remove gephyrin from glycine receptor (GlyR) clusters. Co-transfection of NLS-tagged individual intrabodies with gephyrin-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in HEK 293 cells revealed a partial relocalization of gephyrin aggregates onto the nucleus or in the perinuclear area. When expressed in cultured neurons, these intrabodies caused a significant reduction in the number of immunoreactive GlyR clusters, which was associated with a decrease in the peak amplitude of glycine-evoked whole cell currents as assessed with electrophysiological experiments. Hampering protein function at a posttranslational level may represent an attractive alternative for interfering with gephyrin function in a more spatially localized manner.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / metabolism
  • Glycine / metabolism
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments / metabolism*
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Neurons / cytology
  • Neurons / metabolism
  • Nuclear Localization Signals / genetics
  • Nuclear Localization Signals / metabolism
  • Patch-Clamp Techniques
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Receptors, Glycine / metabolism*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism*
  • alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid / metabolism

Substances

  • Carrier Proteins
  • Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Nuclear Localization Signals
  • Receptors, Glycine
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • gephyrin
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid
  • Glycine