β‐arrestin2 recruitment at the β2 adrenergic receptor: A luciferase complementation assay adapted for undergraduate training in pharmacology

Abstract

In the context of pharmacology teaching, hands‐on activities constitute an essential complement to theoretical lectures. Frequently, these activities consist in exposing fresh animal tissues or even living animals to selected drugs and qualitatively or quantitatively evaluating functional responses. However, technological advancements in pharmacological research and the growing concerns for animal experimentation support the need for innovative and flexible in vitro assays adapted for teaching purposes. We herein report the implementation of a luciferase complementation assay (LCA) enabling to dynamically monitor β‐arrestin2 recruitment at the β 2 adrenergic receptor in the framework of pharmacological training at the faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. The assay allowed students to quantitatively characterize the competitive antagonism of propranolol, and to calculate pEC 50 , pK B , and pA 2 values after a guided data analysis session. Moreover, the newly implemented workshop delivered highly reproducible results and were generally appreciated by students. As such, we report that the luciferase complementation‐based assay proved to be a straightforward, robust, and cost‐effective alternative to experiments performed on animal tissues, constituting a useful and flexible tool to enhance and update current hands‐on training in the context of pharmacological teaching.

Research on the Constructing the Holistic Thinking Mode and Teaching Effect of Pharmacology

“…Therefore, in teaching, we try to connect the scattered knowledge points through the core or several core ideas, summarize and refine their inherent laws, from point to line, from line to surface. For example, the receptor, as one of the important contents throughout the pharmacology course, 10,11 takes it as a clue to connect the widespread distribution and diversity of cholinergic and adrenergic receptors in the chapter of nervous system pharmacology with the basic natural law of survival of the fittest in human evolution, starting from the common sense of life to the profound theoretical level, it can not only make students feel enlightened and improve their interest in learning. It can also make students experience the achievements and happiness in the process of logical thinking, 12 and has achieved satisfactory results in constructing students' holistic view of medicine and stimulating students' enthusiasm for learning.…”