Adrenergic Receptor Autoradiography and in Situ Hybridization

The distribution of α- and β-adrenergic receptors in slices of anatomically complex tissues can be delineated autoradiographically with great precision and resolution. This brief review highlights methodological aspects of adrenergic receptor autoradiography and in situ hybridization at the light microscopic level of resolution. It focuses on technical differences between autoradiographic analysis in tissue sections and conventional radioligand binding assays in membranes prepared from tissue homogenates. it emphasizes strategies for characterizing quantitatively the distribution of specific receptor subtypes and classes using autoradiography and ways of detecting naturally occurring low-abundance adrenergic receptor mRNAs using in situ hybridization.