Identification of the alpha 1c-adrenoceptor in rabbit arteries and the human saphenous vein using the polymerase chain reaction.

Department of Pharmacology, Vermont Center for Vascular Research, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405.

The expression of the alpha 1C-adrenoceptor subtype in human and rabbit blood vessels has been analyzed using the reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction technique (RT/PCR). The 20 bp primers employed were designed from the bovine alpha 1C-adrenoceptor and flank a least conserved region--the putative third cytoplasmic loop. RT/PCR products generated from rabbit and human brain mRNA both had 93% homology to the bovine alpha 1C-adrenoceptor and were used as species and subtype specific probes in Southern blot analysis of vascular RT/PCR products. Poly A+ RNA was purified from the human saphenous vein and rabbit aorta, renal, pulmonary and central ear arteries and amplified by RT/PCR. Size analysis by agarose gel electrophoresis, together with Southern hybridization of the resulting cDNA products confirm the expression of the alpha 1C-adrenoceptor in these vessels.

PMID: 7805763 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]