title: Heart failure drug digitoxin induces calcium uptake into cells by forming transmembrane calcium channels.
abstract: Digitoxin and other cardiac glycosides are important, centuries-old drugs for treating congestive heart failure. However, the mechanism of action of these compounds is still being elucidated. Calcium is known to potentiate the toxicity of these drugs, and we have hypothesized that digitoxin might mediate calcium entry into cells. We report here that digitoxin molecules mediate calcium entry into intact cells. Multimers of digitoxin molecules also are able to form calcium channels in pure planar phospholipid bilayers. These digitoxin channels are blocked by Al(3+) and La(3+) but not by Mg(2+) or the classical l-type calcium channel blocker, nitrendipine. In bilayers, we find that the chemistry of the lipid affects the kinetics of the digitoxin channel activity, but not the cation selectivity. Antibodies against digitoxin promptly neutralize digitoxin channels in both cells and bilayers. We propose that these digitoxin calcium channels may be part of the mechanism by which digitoxin and other active cardiac glycosides, such as digoxin, exert system-wide actions at and above the therapeutic concentration range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics, and Institute for Molecular Medicine, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arispe
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Simakova
authors.forename: Harvey B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Pollard
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004074:Digitoxin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006027:Glycosides / Q000378:metabolism; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000378:metabolism; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D015220:Calcium Channels; D006027:Glycosides; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010743:Phospholipids; D004074:Digitoxin; D002118:Calcium