title: Are interactions with phospholipids responsible for pharmacological activities of cardiotoxins?
abstract: Cardiotoxins are small basic proteins (7 000 daltons) that are found in the venoms of Elapidae snakes. Although they are structurally close to alpha-neurotoxins present in the same secretions, their activity is related to their ability to interact with every cell membrane inducing, near micromolar concentration, the modification of its biological properties and/or physical structure. The mode of action of cardiotoxins, on a molecular level, is still under investigation. However, lipid-protein interactions are more and more involved in their binding to membrane and in their activities. Using new experimental data a better definition of phospholipid-cardiotoxin interaction is arrived at and a tentative molecular explanation of the pharmacological activities of these proteins is presented and discussed.
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004179:Cobra Cardiotoxin Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D004546:Elapid Venoms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity*; D007455:Iodine; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004179:Cobra Cardiotoxin Proteins; D004546:Elapid Venoms; D010743:Phospholipids; D007455:Iodine; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases