Phosphorylation of mu-opioid receptors--a putative mechanism of selective uncoupling of receptor--Gi interaction, measured with low-Km GTPase and nucleotide-sensitive agonist binding.

The mu-opioid receptor agonist stimulation of low-Km GTPase in rat striatal membranes was abolished by islet-activating protein (IAP) treatment, and recovered by Gi reconstitution. When the IAP-treated membranes were phosphorylated with a cAMP-dependent protein kinase, there was no such recovery by Gi. The agonist binding was not affected with respect to Kd, Bmax and sensitivity to guanine nucleotides in the phosphorylated membranes. These findings suggest that phosphorylation of mu-opioid receptors dissociates the agonist change in G-protein activity from the guanine nucleotide-sensitive agonist binding.