Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 2, 912-917, Copyright © 1982 by Society for Neuroscience
Differential regulation of the mu-, delta-, and kappa-opiate receptor subtypes by guanyl nucleotides and metal ions
A Pfeiffer, W Sadee and A Herz
The effects of Na+, guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(MH)p), and Mn2+ on
the binding of dihydromorphine, ethylketocyclazocine, D-Ala2, D-Leu5-
enkephalin, and diprenorphine to the opiate receptor were investigated.
Three distinct binding sites, mu, delta, and kappa sites, were identified
with the use of multiple tracer displacement curves. Moreover, this
approach was used to determine the effects of Gpp (NH)p and metal ions on
each individual binding site. At the mu and delta sites, Na+ and Gpp(NH)p
each decreased and Mn2+ increased agonist binding affinities, with the
exception of D-Ala2, D-Leu-enkephalin affinity which was not affected by
Gpp(NH)p. None of these conditions markedly altered dihydromorphine and
D-Ala2, Leu5-enkephalin binding to kappa sites, whereas the affinity of
ethylke-tocyclazocine for kappa sites was decreased by Gpp(NH)p. Sodium
ions lowered the capacity of mu sites and Gpp(NH)p reduced that of delta
sites, while both agents increased the capacity of apparent kappa sites.
These results demonstrate that each of the kinetically distinguishable
binding sites is regulated differentially by metal ions and guanyl
nucleotides. Simultaneous addition of Na+ and Gpp(NH)p greatly reduced the
binding affinity of all three agonists at their respective high affinity
sites (dihydromorphine at the mu site, D-Ala2, D-Leu5-enkephalin at the
delta site, and ethylketocyclazocine at the kappa and mu sites). This
result confirms previous observations that agonist binding is characterized
by a large affinity reduction in the presence of both Na+ and guanyl
nucleotides, and it extends this concept to each of the opiate receptor
subtypes.