The agonist sensitivity of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) can be altered by protein kinase C (PKC), with CaR residue Thr 888 contributing significantly to this effect. To determine whether CaR T888 is a substrate for PKC and whether receptor activation modulates such phosphorylation, a phospho-specific antibody against this residue was raised (CaR pT888 mobilization rather than oscillations (9). Whereas this suggests that PKC-mediated CaR phosphorylation regulates CaR function, no reagents have existed previously for investigating CaR phosphorylation directly. Thus, we have developed a phospho-specific antibody that recognizes the phosphorylated form of CaR T888 , this residue being chosen because its mutation elicited the greatest effect on CaR function of the putative PKC sites.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESMaterials-The calcimimetics NPS R-467 and S-467 and the calcilytic NPS-89636 were a kind gift of Dr. E. F. Nemeth and NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Toronto, Canada). Fura-2/AM was from Invitrogen and Gö6976, PKC-selective inhibitor (anilinomonoindolylmaleimide), and endothall thioanhydride (7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2,3-dicarboxylic acid) were from Calbiochem (EMD Biosciences, Inc., San Diego, CA). Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse and anti-rabbit secondary antibodies were from DakoCytomation (Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK). Unless stated otherwise, all other chemicals were purchased from Sigma.Cell Culture-HEK293 cells, stably transfected with human parathyroid CaR (6), were a gift from Dr. E. F. Nemeth (NPS Pharmaceuticals). Cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal * This work was supported in part by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Grant BBSB04986. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.