Localization of AMPA receptor subunits in rat CNS using anti-peptide antibodies.

Anti-peptide antibodies directed against amino acid sequences specific to the non-NMDA receptor subunits GluR1-GluR4 were used to probe Western blots of regions of rat CNS. In agreement with in situ hybridization and glutamatergic radioligand binding studies, the anti-GluR1 and anti-GluR2/3 antibodies reacted strongly with an approximately 108,000 dalton polypeptide in forebrain regions and also, at a lower level, in the cerebellum. Interestingly, in the spinal cord only the anti-GluR2/3 antibody reacted. These data suggest the differential distribution of GluR polypeptides and that the GluR1 subunit is either absent or expressed at levels too low to detect in the spinal cord.