Molecular pharmacology
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Molecular pharmacology · Dec 1999
Putative partial agonist 1-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid acts concurrently as a glycine-site agonist and a glutamate-site antagonist at N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors.
1-Aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid (ACPC) has been shown to protect against neuronal cell death after ischemic insult in vivo. Such results can be correlated with in vitro assays in which ACPC protected neurons against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity by reducing the activity of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) channel activation. Electrophysiological studies have determined that ACPC inhibits NMDA receptor activity by acting as a glycine-binding site partial agonist. ⋯ The removal of ACPC initially caused an increase in inward current followed by a subsequent decrease to baseline levels. This suggests that relief of low-affinity antagonism occurs before high-affinity agonist dissociation. Simulations of ACPC action by a two glutamate-binding site/two glycine-binding site model for NMDA channel activation in conjunction with the concurrent role of ACPC as a glycine-site full agonist and glutamate-site competitive antagonist were able to successfully approximate experimental results.
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Molecular pharmacology · Dec 1999
Comparative StudyDifferential interaction of R-mexiletine with the local anesthetic receptor site on brain and heart sodium channel alpha-subunits.
Mexiletine is a class I antiarrhythmic drug with neuroprotective effects in models of brain ischemia attributable to inhibition of brain sodium channels. We compared effects of R-mexiletine on wild-type and mutant rat brain (rbIIA) and heart (rh1) sodium channel alpha-subunits transiently expressed in tsA-201 cells. R-mexiletine induced tonic and frequency-dependent block and bound with a 26-fold (brain) or 35-fold (heart) higher affinity to inactivated sodium channels. ⋯ Unlike previous local anesthetics studied, the strongest effect was observed for mutation rbY1771A. Comparison of mutations of the homologous phenylalanine residue in brain and heart channels showed striking differences in the effects of the mutations. rbF1764A reduced drug block by slowing R-mexiletine binding to inactivated channels, whereas rhF1762A reduced block by increasing the rate of dissociation from inactivated and resting channels. Thus, rbF1764/rhF1762 is a critical determinant of affinity and tissue-specific differences in mexiletine block of brain and heart sodium channels, but its role in drug interaction differs in these two channel isoforms.