Regional Distribution and Quantitative Measurement of the Phosphoinositidase C‐Linked Guanine Nucleotide Binding Proteins G1α and Gqα in Rat Brain

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Abstract
Levels of the guanine nucleotide binding proteins G11α and Gqα, which produce receptor regulation of phosphoinositidase C., were measured immunologically in 13 regions of rat central nervous system. This was achieved by immunoblotting membranes from these regions with antisera (CQ series) that identify these two polypeptides equally, following separation of the membranes using sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis conditions that can resolve Gqα and G11α. In all regions examined, Gqα was more highly expressed than G11α. Ratios of levels of Gqα to G11α varied between the regions from 5:1 to 2:1. Quantitative measurements of the levels of Gqα and G11α in each region were obtained by comparison with known amounts of purified liver Gqα and G11α and with E. coli expressed recombinant Gqα. Areas that expressed Gqα highly included olfactory bulb (930 ng/ mg of membrane protein), frontal cortex (700 ng/mg of membrane protein), parietal occipital cortex (670 ng/mg of membrane protein), caudate putamen (1,003 ng/mg of membrane protein), hippocampus (1,045 ng/mg of membrane protein), hypothalamus (790 ng/mg of membrane protein), and cerebellum (950 ng/mg of membrane protein). More modest levels were observed in thalamus (450 ng/mg of membrane protein), pituitary (480 ng/mg of membrane protein), optic chiasma (330 ng/mg of membrane protein), and spinal cord (350 ng/mg of membrane protein). Gna was more evenly expressed with values ranging from about 170 ng/mg of membrane protein in spinal cord and optic chiasma to close to 300 ng/mg of membrane protein in regions expressing high levels of Gqα. A third polypeptide could be identified by the CQ antisera in all brain regions. The possibility that this polypeptide is the α subunit of G14 is discussed.