The Problems and Pitfalls of Radioligand Binding

Radioligand binding is an extremely versatile technique that can be applied to a wide range of receptors in a variety of preparations, including purified and solubilized receptors, membrane preparations, whole cells, tissue slices, and even whole animals. The basic method is very easy to perform. It can even be automated, and the throughput of samples that can be achieved is very high. The data obtained are typically extremely “tight” and reproducible, allowing receptor number, ligand affinity, the existence of receptor subtypes, and allosteric interactions between binding sites and/or receptors and effector molecules to be determined with great precision and subtlety.