Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells produce pre-pro-nociceptin/orphanin FQ mRNA.

Williams, John P; Thompson, Jonathan P; Rowbotham, David J; Lambert, David G · Anesth Analg · 2008

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) transcribe mRNA for the nonclassical opioid nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) receptor (NOP). We probed for the N/OFQ precursor, pre-pro-N/OFQ (ppN/OFQ). Using PBMC from 10 healthy volunteers we probed for ppN/OFQ using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based experimental paradigms. In gel-based PCR, we detected amplicons consistent with ppN/OFQ mRNA in all samples. This was confirmed in quantitative real-time PCR with cycle thresholds (representing quantity of mRNA) of 30.91 +/- 0.18 (n = 10). These data indicate that PBMCs transcribe ppN/OFQ which, coupled with NOP expression, suggest NOP may be involved in the autoregulation of PBMCs.

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