RAPID NONISOTOPIC ANALYSIS OF GLUTAMATE-RECEPTOR GENE-EXPRESSION USING REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION-POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

We describe a simple nonisotopic method for analyzing receptor gene ex pression using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR ) and laser densitometry of agarose gels. Densitometry of known amount s of double stranded DNA molecular weight standards was used to estima te yield of glutamate receptor RT-PCR product (in ng DNA) obtained fro m rat brain. while unable to provide absolute quantitation of gene exp ression, this method using standard techniques allows for rapid analys is of relative levels of receptor gene expression without using radioa ctivity.