Abstract
Specific antibodies are essential in the study of receptor protein. Gene matching
shows that Nischarin (NISCH) is a mouse homologue of human imidazoline receptor antisera-selective
(IRAS) protein, a viable candidate for imidazoline I-1 receptor. However, selectivity
of this antibody against imidazoline I-2 or imidazoline I-3 receptors remained obscure.
At first, an intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of anti-NISCH antibody blocked
the blood pressure lowering action of rilmenidine (I-1 receptor agonist) in spontaneous
hypertensive rat (SHR). However, the same injection of anti-NISCH antibody showed
no effect in SHR treated with clonidine (α2 agonist). In order to clarify the selectivity of anti-NISCH antibody for each subtype
of imidazoline receptors, this anti-NISCH antibody was subjected to the lysate of
organs isolated from Wistar rats including cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and brain
stem as central nervous tissues, and heart, liver, pancreas, skeletal muscle, kidney,
prostate, and bladder as peripheral tissues. The results show that anti-NISCH antibody
positively reacted with all tissues including heart, pancreas, skeletal muscle, kidney
and bladder by Western blot analysis. Also, the blotting spots for anti-NISCH antibody
show a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, anti-NISCH antibody blocked the action
of glucose uptake induced by 2-BFI (I-2 receptor agonist) in L6 cells. Taken together,
the obtained data suggest that anti-NISCH antibody can be used not only for imidazoline
I-1 receptor but also for I-2 and I-3 subtypes in immunoassays.
Key words
imidazoline I-1 receptor - imidazoline I-2 receptor - imidazoline I-3 receptor - Nischarin
(HISCH) - imidazoline receptor antisera-selective (IRAS) protein