Autor: |
Dinesh C Indurthi, Trevor M Lewis, Philip K Ahring, Thomas Balle, Mary Chebib, Nathan L Absalom |
Jazyk: |
angličtina |
Rok vydání: |
2016 |
Předmět: |
|
Zdroj: |
PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 8, p e0161154 (2016) |
Druh dokumentu: |
article |
ISSN: |
1932-6203 |
DOI: |
10.1371/journal.pone.0161154 |
Popis: |
The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the most abundant subtype in the brain and exists in two functional stoichiometries: (α4)3(β2)2 and (α4)2(β2)3. A distinct feature of the (α4)3(β2)2 receptor is the biphasic activation response to the endogenous agonist acetylcholine, where it is activated with high potency and low efficacy when two α4-β2 binding sites are occupied and with low potency/high efficacy when a third α4-α4 binding site is occupied. Further, exogenous ligands can bind to the third α4-α4 binding site and potentiate the activation of the receptor by ACh that is bound at the two α4-β2 sites. We propose that perturbations of the recently described pre-activation step when a third binding site is occupied are a key driver of these distinct activation properties. To investigate this, we used a combination of simple linear kinetic models and voltage clamp electrophysiology to determine whether transitions into the pre-activated state were increased when three binding sites were occupied. We separated the binding at the two different sites with ligands selective for the α4-β2 site (Sazetidine-A and TC-2559) and the α4-α4 site (NS9283) and identified that when a third binding site was occupied, changes in the concentration-response curves were best explained by an increase in transitions into a pre-activated state. We propose that perturbations of transitions into a pre-activated state are essential to explain the activation properties of the (α4)3(β2)2 receptor by acetylcholine and other ligands. Considering the widespread clinical use of benzodiazepines, this discovery of a conserved mechanism that benzodiazepines and ACh potentiate receptor activation via a third binding site can be exploited to develop therapeutics with similar properties at other cys-loop receptors. |
Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
Externí odkaz: |
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