Abstract
A still unsolved, although critical, issue in endocannabinoid research is the mechanism by which the lipophilic compound anandamide (AEA) moves from its site of synthesis, crosses the aqueous milieu, and reaches the different intracellular compartments, where its metabolic and signaling pathways take place. The difficulty of studying intracellular AEA transport and distribution results from the lack of specific probes and techniques to track and visualize this bioactive lipid within the cell. Here, we describe the use of a biotinylated, non-hydrolyzable derivative of AEA (biotin-AEA, b-AEA) for visualizing the subcellular distribution of this endocannabinoid by means of confocal fluorescence microscopy.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (grant MIUR 2010/2011 to M.M.).
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Oddi, S., Totaro, A., Maccarrone, M. (2016). Visualization of Endocannabinoids in the Cell. In: Maccarrone, M. (eds) Endocannabinoid Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1412. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3539-0_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3539-0_28
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