Developmental change and molecular properties of somatostatin receptors in the rat cerebral cortex

The postnatal development and molecular properties of somatostatin receptor were studied in rat cerebral cortex. With [125I-Tyr11]SRIF as a radiolabeled ligand, the specific ligand binding to crude membrane increased transiently in the early phase of postnatal development and then decreased. This increase of somatostatin binding was mainly due to the increased number of binding sites. The two subtypes classified by Tran et al., SSA and SSB, were confirmed and the studies on the relative amount of the subtypes revealed that more SSA subtype was expressed compared with SSB subtype during a week after birth, but, thereafter, both subtypes were almost equally expressed throughout the developmental stages tested. Molecular weight of the covalently labeled somatostatin receptor (SSA subtype), which was determined with the aid of the cross-linking agents, was estimated to be approximately 71,000 with no intramolecular disulfide bond.