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Description

Millipore's Ready-to-Assay GPCR frozen cells are designed for simple, rapid calcium assays with no requirement for intensive cell culturing. Millipore has optimized the freezing conditions to provide cells with high viability and functionality post-thaw. The user simply thaws the cells and resuspends them in media, dispenses cell suspension into assay plates and, following over night recovery, assays for calcium response. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, also commonly known as serotonin) is synthesized in enterochromaffin cells in the intestine and in serotonergic nerve terminals. In the periphery, 5-HT mediates gastrointestinal motility, platelet aggregation, and contraction of blood vessels. Many functions of the central nervous system are influenced by 5-HT, including sleep, motor activity, sensory perception, arousal and appetite. A family of 12 GPCRs and one ion channel mediate the biological effects of 5-HT (Hoyer et al., 1994). 5-HT2C, which couples to Gq in most cells to stimulate intracellular calcium, is prominently expressed in brain and appears to modulate depression, anxiety and appetite (Miller, 2005, Serretti et al., 2004, Wood, 2003). The mRNA encoding 5-HT2C undergoes selective RNA editing that changes 4 amino acids in the second intracellular loop, these changes result in alteration of efficiency of coupling to G proteins. Alterations in editing of 5-HT2C have been detected in victims of suicidal depression and in mice treated with the SSRI, fluoxetine (Tohda et al., 2006). Millipore's cloned human 5-HT2C -expressing cell line is made in the Chem-1 host, which supports high levels of recombinant 5-HT2C expression on the cell surface for functional detection via the calcium signaling pathway. Thus, the cell line is an ideal tool for screening for agonists, antagonists and modulators at 5-HT2C.