TY - JOUR A1 - Christian, Gentzsch A1 - Seier, Kerstin A1 - Drakopoulos, Antonios A1 - Jobin, Marie-Lise A1 - Lanoiselée, Yann A1 - Koszegi, Zsombor A1 - Maurel, Damien A1 - Sounier, Rémy A1 - Hübner, Harald A1 - Gmeiner, Peter A1 - Granier, Sébastien A1 - Calebiro, Davide A1 - Decker, Michael T1 - Selective and Wash‐Resistant Fluorescent Dihydrocodeinone Derivatives Allow Single‐Molecule Imaging of μ‐Opioid Receptor Dimerization JF - Angewandte Chemie International Edition N2 - μ‐Opioid receptors (μ‐ORs) play a critical role in the modulation of pain and mediate the effects of the most powerful analgesic drugs. Despite extensive efforts, it remains insufficiently understood how μ‐ORs produce specific effects in living cells. We developed new fluorescent ligands based on the μ‐OR antagonist E‐p‐nitrocinnamoylamino‐dihydrocodeinone (CACO), that display high affinity, long residence time and pronounced selectivity. Using these ligands, we achieved single‐molecule imaging of μ‐ORs on the surface of living cells at physiological expression levels. Our results reveal a high heterogeneity in the diffusion of μ‐ORs, with a relevant immobile fraction. Using a pair of fluorescent ligands of different color, we provide evidence that μ‐ORs interact with each other to form short‐lived homodimers on the plasma membrane. This approach provides a new strategy to investigate μ‐OR pharmacology at single‐molecule level. KW - single-molecule microscopy KW - fluorescent probes KW - G-protein coupled receptor KW - homodimerization KW - opioid ligands Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-212398 VL - 59 IS - 15 ER -