Millipore's Ready-to-Assay GPCR frozen cells are designed for simple, rapid calcium assays with no requirement for intensive cell culturing. Millipore has optimized the freezing conditions to provide cells with high viability and functionality post-thaw. The user simply thaws the cells and resuspends them in media, dispenses cell suspension into assay plates and, following over night recovery, assays for calcium response. Somatostatin (sst) is a multifunctional peptide with two biologically active forms, sst-14 and sst-28, which are synthesized in neurons throughout the brain as well as in peripheral tissues such as the pancreas and the gut (Gillies, 1997). SST exerts a diverse array of effects that include inhibition of endocrine secretion, modulation of neurotransmission, and regulation of cell proliferation by stimulating a family of five G-protein-coupled receptors. Somatostatin receptor sst2 mRNA is predominantly expressed in central nervous system. Study using sst2 knock-out mice has found the increased anxiety-related behaviour while locomotor and exploratory activity was decreased in stress-inducing situations (coupled with an increase in pituitary ACTH release, a regulator of the stress response) (Viollet et al., 2000) . In the periphery, inhibition of glucagon release by sst in mouse islets is primarily mediated via sst2 (Strowski et al., 2000). In addition, endogenous sst functions through sst2 to suppress gastric acid secretion through inhibition of gastrin activity (Martinez et al., 1998). Millipore's cloned human sst2-expressing cell line is made in the Chem-1 host, which supports high levels of recombinant sst2 expression on the cell surface and contains high levels of the promiscuous G protein Galpha15 to couple the receptor to the calcium signaling pathway. Thus, the cell line is an ideal tool for screening for agonists, antagonists and modulators at sst2.
Biochem Physiol Actions: Target Sub-Family: Somatostatin