Toxins 'R' Us: more pharmacological tools from nature's superstore.
Conus venoms from marine cone snails continue to provide novel bioactive components. Two new classes of conopeptide specifically block alpha(1)-adrenoceptors (rho-conopeptide) and noradrenaline transporters (chi-conopeptides). Both classes are small peptides with two disulfide bonds. Rho-conopeptide is structurally similar to alpha-conotoxins, which block nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, whereas the chi-conopeptides are unrelated to other conotoxins. Both types of conopeptides are non-competitive blockers. Because these peptides demonstrate greater selectivity than current drugs in clinical use, they could lead to the development of improved therapeutics.
Harvey
Alan L
AL
Dept of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research, University of Strathclyde, 27 Taylor Street, Glasgow, UK G4 0NR. a.l.harvey@strath.ac.uk
D058668:Adrenergic alpha-1 Receptor Antagonists; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020916:Conotoxins / Q000145:classification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050484:Norepinephrine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D027981:Symporters / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
D058668:Adrenergic alpha-1 Receptor Antagonists; D020916:Conotoxins; D050484:Norepinephrine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; C493227:SLC6A2 protein, human; D027981:Symporters