Phosphorylation of the 5-hydroxytryptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor expressed in HEK293 cells

The 5-hydroxytrptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor is a pentameric complex belonging to the family of ligand-gated ion channels. A variety of studies have suggested that phosphorylation regulates the rate of desensitisation and the size of amplitude of the receptor current. In this study we have examined the phosphorylation of the myc-tagged wild-type 5-HT3A receptor subunits from guinea-pig expressed in HEK293 cells (human embryonic kidney). Stably transfected cells were metabolically labelled with 32P-phosphoric acid. The results of immunoprecipitation and autoradiography demonstrate that both splicc variants of the 5-HT3A receptor subunit are phosphorylated in HEK293 cells. Site-specific mutagenesis revealed that phosphorylation occurs at serine 409, a potential target of protein kinase A. Thus the 5-HT3 receptor might be modulated by intracellular pathways, that allow variable 5-hydroxytryptamine action as responses to different extracellular stimuli.