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Morphine promotes phosphorylation of the human delta-opioid receptor at serine 363
Edita Navratilova1, Miriam C Eaton, Dagmar Stropova
1Department of Medical Pharmacology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
Abstract:
After prolonged stimulation, the delta-opioid receptor becomes desensitized by regulatory mechanisms such as receptor phosphorylation, internalization and down-regulation. In this study, we demonstrate that morphine treatment causes phosphorylation of S363 in the C-terminus of the human delta-opioid receptor. Morphine-mediated phosphorylation reached 53+/-8% of maximum deltorphin II-mediated phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of S363 may contribute to delta-opioid receptor desensitization by morphine.
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