Fluorescent ligand , molecular

The terbium complexes have by far the most intense fluorescence. For terbium, the state at 20,500 cm is the only ion resonance level below the 22,210 cm" triplet state of napy (8, 9, 22), The assignments for the flve observed transitions agree with several reports 23, 24), No band attributable to ligand molecular phosphorescence was observed for any of these stronger fluorescent complexes. 

Previously reported selective potent GABAc antagonists (S)- and (/ )-4-ACPBPA were used for the design of the fluorescent GABAc antagonists. To introduce molecular flexibility into the conjugated fluorescent ligand, Hanrahan et al. chose a linker size that varied from zero to ten carbon atoms and three different fluorophores [NMA (AT-methylanthranilic acid), 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) and 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-l,3-diazol-4-yl chloride... 

The above discussion provides only a brief overview of how fluorescence techniques can be used to study the interactions of ligands with their receptors. We have focused on the quantitation of the binding parameters and compared the data with that which may be obtained with those from radiolabelled ligand binding studies. The number of applications of fluorescence in the study of neurochemistry and molecular biology is ever increasing. Outside the scope of this review is, for example, the use of fluorescence microscopy to monitor cell surface expression and targeting of receptors or the use of fluorescence probes to monitor ion transport into and out of cells. 

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