Immunofluorescence detection of the hDAT variants using anti-hDAT-EL2 antibody in COS-7 cells treated with Triton.

A. Merged pictures of differential interference contrast and fluorescence images taken from COS-7 cells transiently transfected with hDATΔEX6 (a, b), FL hDAT (c) or empty vector pcDNA3 (Mock, d). Two days after transfection, cells were treated with (a) or without (b–d) 0.25% Triton X-100 for 5 min, and then examined for the expression of DAT variants by confocal microscopy with immunological detection using an anti-hDAT-Ct antibody. B. Quantitative comparison of the cell surface expression of hDAT variants. Values represent the mean ± SEM of immunoreactive cell number, expressed as a percentage of total cell counts from 3 experiments. Statistical analyses were performed using Student's t-test. *P<0.05.