Palacios J M, Mengod G
Department of Neurochemistry, Centro Investigacion y Desarrollo (C.S.I.C.), Barcelona, Spain.
Arzneimittelforschung. 1992 Feb;42(2A):189-95.
The study of neurotransmitter receptor localization at the microscopic level has been influenced by progress in biochemistry and molecular biology of these proteins and by the increasing development of new and more selective ligands. Receptor autoradiography is a well established technique in widespread use for the visualization and characterization of receptors at the light microscopic level. This technique can be readily used to examine receptors in control and diseased human brain tissues obtained post mortem. The applications of these techniques in human brain pharmacology and neuropathology as well as its limitations are discussed. The recent cloning of the genes coding for many neurotransmitter receptors has allowed the use of in situ hybridization histochemistry to demonstrate cells expressing mRNA coding for specific receptor subtypes. This technique is now being applied to human brain post mortem tissues. The results provided by the combination of these techniques will significantly modify our understanding of the chemical neuroanatomy of the human brain in health and disease.
在微观层面上对神经递质受体定位的研究受到了这些蛋白质生物化学和分子生物学进展以及新型、更具选择性配体不断发展的影响。受体放射自显影术是一种广泛应用的成熟技术，用于在光学显微镜水平上可视化和表征受体。该技术可轻松用于检查死后获得的对照和患病人类脑组织中的受体。讨论了这些技术在人类脑药理学和神经病理学中的应用及其局限性。最近许多神经递质受体编码基因的克隆使得原位杂交组织化学得以用于证明表达特定受体亚型编码mRNA的细胞。该技术目前正在应用于人类脑死后组织。这些技术相结合所提供的结果将显著改变我们对健康和疾病状态下人类脑化学神经解剖学的理解。
