Compartmentalization of endocannabinoids into lipid rafts in a dorsal root ganglion cell line

N-arachidonoyl ethanolamine (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) are endogenous cannabinoids binding to the cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 to modulate neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission in primary afferent neurons. To investigate the compartmentalization of the machinery for AEA and 2-AG signalling, we studied their partitioning into lipid raft fractions isolated from a dorsal root ganglion X neuroblastoma cell line (F-11).

F-11 cells were homogenized and fractionated using a detergent-free OptiPrep density gradient. All lipids were partially purified from methanolic extracts of the fractions on solid phase cartridges and quantified using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Protein distribution was determined by Western blotting.

Under basal conditions, the endogenous cannabinoid AEA was present in both lipid raft and specific non-lipid raft fractions as was one of its biosynthetic enzymes, NAPE-PLD. The 2-AG precursor 1-stearoyl-2-arachidonoyl-sn-glycerol (DAG), diacylglycerol lipase alpha (DAGLalpha), which cleaves DAG to form 2-AG, and 2-AG were all co-localized with lipid raft markers. CB1 receptors, previously reported to partition into lipid raft fractions, were not detected in F-11 membranes, but CB2 receptors were detected at high levels and partitioned into non-lipid raft fractions.

The biochemical machinery for the production of 2-AG via the putative diacylglycerol pathway is localized within lipid rafts, suggesting that 2-AG synthesis via DAG occurs within these microdomains. The observed co-localization of AEA, 2-AG, and their synthetic enzymes with the reported localization of CB1 raises the possibility of intrinsic-autocrine signalling within lipid raft domains and/or retrograde-paracrine signalling.