Production of antibodies against specific neurotransmitter receptors

Blitsch, Kristin Leigh

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Production of antibodies against specific neurotransmitter receptors

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The purpose of this project was to produce antibodies against specific neurotransmitter receptors for the long-range purpose of analyzing their effects on various chemical brain interactions. A bioinformatics approach was used to design immunogenic peptide specific for the transmembrane domains of seven receptors. Mouse and Rat brain cDNA libraries were used as PCR templates to amplify receptor gene fragments for ligation into expression plasmids. Restriction mapping indicated no positives, thus an alternative approach was utilized in which the peptides were synthesized synthetically and injected into rabbits. This latter approach produced a high titer antibody response as assayed by ELISAs.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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