Nicotine Binding to Brain Receptors Requires a Strong Cation-π Interaction
Autor: | Nyssa L. Puskar, Xinan Xiu, Henry A. Lester, Dennis A. Dougherty, Jai A. P. Shanata |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2009 |
Předmět: |
Models
Molecular medicine.medical_specialty Nicotine Halogenation Protein Conformation Substance-Related Disorders Central nervous system Receptors Nicotinic Article chemistry.chemical_compound Mice Xenopus laevis Internal medicine Cations medicine Animals Nicotinic Agonists Receptor Neurotransmitter Acetylcholine receptor Multidisciplinary Binding Sites Chemistry Smoking Tryptophan Brain Acetylcholine Rats Nicotinic agonist medicine.anatomical_structure Endocrinology Organ Specificity Oocytes medicine.symptom medicine.drug Muscle contraction Protein Binding |
Zdroj: | Nature |
ISSN: | 1476-4687 0028-0836 |
Popis: | Nicotine addiction begins with high-affinity binding of nicotine to acetylcholine (ACh) receptors in the brain. The end result is over 4,000,000 smoking-related deaths annually worldwide and the largest source of preventable mortality in developed countries. Stress reduction, pleasure, improved cognition and other central nervous system effects are strongly associated with smoking. However, if nicotine activated ACh receptors found in muscle as potently as it does brain ACh receptors, smoking would cause intolerable and perhaps fatal muscle contractions. Despite extensive pharmacological, functional and structural studies of ACh receptors, the basis for the differential action of nicotine on brain compared with muscle ACh receptors has not been determined. Here we show that at the α4β2 brain receptors thought to underlie nicotine addiction, the high affinity for nicotine is the result of a strong cation–π interaction to a specific aromatic amino acid of the receptor, TrpB. In contrast, the low affinity for nicotine at the muscle type ACh receptor is largely due to the fact that this key interaction is absent, even though the immediate binding site residues, including the key amino acid TrpB, are identical in the brain and muscle receptors. At the same time a hydrogen bond from nicotine to the backbone carbonyl of TrpB is enhanced in the neuronal receptor relative to the muscle type. A point mutation near TrpB that differentiates α4β2 and muscle-type receptors seems to influence the shape of the binding site, allowing nicotine to interact more strongly with TrpB in the neuronal receptor. ACh receptors are established therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, smoking cessation, pain, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, autism and depression. Along with solving a chemical mystery in nicotine addiction, our results provide guidance for efforts to develop drugs that target specific types of nicotinic receptors. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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