Abstract

1. Whole cell voltage clamp electrophysiology and radioligand binding were used to examine the agonist characteristics of the two splice variants of the 5-HT3 receptor which have been cloned from neuronal cell lines. Homo-oligomeric 5-HT3 receptors were examined in HEK 293 cells stably transfected with either long (5-HT3-L) or short (5-HT3-S) receptor subunit DNAs. 2. Functional homo-oligomeric receptors were formed from both subunits, and responses to 5-HT3 receptor agonists (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 2-methyl 5-HT and m-chlorophenylbiguanide) were qualitatively similar. 3. Maximum currents (Rmax) elicited by the 5-HT3 receptor agonists m-chlorophenylbiguanide (mCPBG) and 2-methyl-5-HT (2-Me-5-HT), as compared to 5-HT, differed in the two splice variants: Rmax mCPBG/Rmax 5-HT values were 0.68+/-0.04 and 0.91+/-0.01 in 5-HT3-L and 5-HT3-S receptors, respectively. Comparable values for 2-Me-5-HT were 0.30+/-0.02 and 0.23+/-0.02. 4. Radioligand binding data showed no difference in affinity of agonist or antagonist binding sites; thus the six amino acid deletion appears to cause differences in agonist efficacy. 5. The role of the 6 amino acid insertion was further investigated by use of site-directed mutagenesis to create two mutant receptors, one where serine 286 was replaced with alanine, and the second where all 6 amino acids were replaced with alanines. 6. Examination of the mutant receptors when stably expressed in HEK 293 cells revealed agonist properties resembling long and not short 5-HT3 receptors. Thus specific amino acids in this region are not responsible for the observed differences. 7. The data show intracellular structure can have significant effects on ligand-gated ion channel function, and suggest that minor changes in structure may be responsible for differences in function observed when ligand-gated ion channel proteins are modulated intracellularly.