Expression of dopamine transporter at the tips of growing neurites of PC12 cells.

The four kinds of oligopeptides specific in amino acid sequence to a rat dopamine transporter (DAT), peptide-1-peptide-4, were chemically synthethized. An attempt to produce antipeptide antibodies against these oligopeptides was made with an in vitro immunization method. Two monoclonal antibodies, MAbs H-1a and H-1b, were produced against one of the oligopeptides, peptide-1. Western blot analysis confirmed that the two antibodies recognized an approximately 85,000 Da protein in a synaptosomal fraction prepared from the rat striatum but none in the fraction from the cerebellum. The specificity of the antibody to DAT was also confirmed by an antibody absorption test using two synthetic oligopeptides, one of which is specific only to DAT. These results have confirmed the specificity of the present antibody to DAT. The expression and subcellular localization of DAT were immunohistochemically examined with MAbs H-1a and H-1b in PC12 cells treated with nerve growth factor (NGF). The antibody labeled the surface of PC12 cells. When the cells were treated with NGF, the expression of DAT was significantly emphasized, first in the area mainly including the Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum and then on the surface of growth cones from the beginning of neurite outgrowth. DAT was detected by Western blot analysis in a microsomal fraction prepared from PC12 cells. The activity of DAT in the PC12 cells was pharmacologically confirmed by the uptake of [3H]-dopamine and blockade by uptake inhibitors. The NGF treatment doubled the dopamine uptake activity. GBR12909, a specific inhibitor of DAT, blocked the [3H]-dopamine at a concentration of 10(-7) M. The expression of DAT and norepinephrine transporter (NET) mRNA in the PC12 cells was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). DAT mRNA significantly increased in the NGF-treated cells after 7 days of incubation, whereas NET mRNA markedly decreased.