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Snake and snail toxins acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: fundamental aspects and medical applications
Author(s) -
Tsetlin V.I,
Hucho F
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)01454-6
Subject(s) - acetylcholine receptor , neurotoxin , nicotinic agonist , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , conotoxin , acetylcholine , venom , torpedo , snake venom , receptor , alpha (finance) , ganglion type nicotinic receptor , snail , peptide , biology , chemistry , neuroscience , biochemistry , pharmacology , medicine , ecology , construct validity , nursing , patient satisfaction
This review covers recent data on interactions of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR) with snake venom proteins (α‐ and κ‐neurotoxins, ‘weak’ toxins recently shown to act on AChRs), as well as with peptide α‐conotoxins from Conus snails. Mutations of AChRs and toxins, X‐ray/nuclear magnetic resonance structures of α‐neurotoxin bound to AChR fragments, and the X‐ray structure of the acetylcholine‐binding protein were used by several groups to build models for the α‐neurotoxin–AChR complexes. Application of snake toxins and α‐conotoxins for pharmacological distinction of muscle, neuronal and neuronal‐like AChR subtypes and for other medical purposes is briefly discussed.