title: [Critical role of peptidic toxins in the functional and structural analysis of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors].
abstract: Animal toxins which interact on various receptors and channels have been often used in the studies of the functional roles of these targets. Nicotinic toxins have been purified from snake and cone venoms and are characterized by high affinity and various selectivity of interactions on the different nicotinic receptors subtypes. Since 30 years they have been used as molecular probes to identify, localize and purify these receptors. Furthermore, they have played a crucial role in the better understanding of their functional properties and have been useful in their structural studies. These peptidic toxins could be chemically synthetized or recombinantly expressed and nonnatural residues could be introduced in their sequences in order to delineate their functional interaction sites. The structural modelisation of toxin-nAChR interaction allows us to understand the antagonistic property of these toxins and open the way to the design of engineered ligands with predetermined specificity, useful as pharmacological tools or therapeutic agents in the numerous diseases involving this receptor family.
authors.affiliation: CEA, Département d'lngénierie et d'Etudes des Protéines, CE Saclay, 91191 Gif, Yvette.
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fruchart-Gaillard
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ménez
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Servent
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D020916:Conotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003435:Crotalid Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018733:Nicotinic Antagonists / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
chemical_list: D020916:Conotoxins; D003435:Crotalid Venoms; D009498:Neurotoxins; D018733:Nicotinic Antagonists; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C077895:waglerin