Spatial Intensity Distribution Analysis: Studies of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Oligomerisation

Spatial intensity distribution analysis (SpIDA) is a recently developed approach for determining quaternary structure information on fluorophore-labelled proteins of interest in situ. It can be applied to live or fixed cells and native tissue. Using confocal images, SpIDA generates fluorescence intensity histograms that are analysed by super-Poissonian distribution functions to obtain density and quantal brightness values of the fluorophore-labelled protein of interest. This allows both expression level and oligomerisation state of the protein to be determined. We describe the application of SpIDA to investigate the oligomeric state of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at steady state and following cellular challenge, and consider how SpIDA may be used to explore GPCR quaternary organisation in pathophysiology and to stratify medicines.