Liu Zhirui, Tao Jie, Ye Pin, Ji Yonghua
Laboratory of Neuropharmacology and Neurotoxicology, Shanghai University, Nanchen Road 333, Shanghai 200444, China.
J Toxicol. 2012;2012:843787. doi: 10.1155/2012/843787. Epub 2012 Jul 8.
Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are important membrane protein carrying on the molecular basis for action potentials (AP) in neuronal firings. Even though the structure-function studies were the most pursued spots, the posttranslation modification processes, such as glycosylation, phosphorylation, and alternative splicing associating with channel functions captured less eyesights. The accumulative research suggested an interaction between the sialic acids chains and ion-permeable pores, giving rise to subtle but significant impacts on channel gating. Sodium channel-specific neurotoxic toxins, a family of long-chain polypeptides originated from venomous animals, are found to potentially share the binding sites adjacent to glycosylated region on VGSCs. Thus, an interaction between toxin and glycosylated VGSC might hopefully join the campaign to approach the role of glycosylation in modulating VGSCs-involved neuronal network activity. This paper will cover the state-of-the-art advances of researches on glycosylation-mediated VGSCs function and the possible underlying mechanisms of interactions between toxin and glycosylated VGSCs, which may therefore, fulfill the knowledge in identifying the pharmacological targets and therapeutic values of VGSCs.
电压门控钠通道(VGSCs)是重要的膜蛋白,是神经元放电中动作电位(AP)的分子基础。尽管结构-功能研究是最受关注的领域,但与通道功能相关的翻译后修饰过程,如糖基化、磷酸化和可变剪接,却较少受到关注。累积的研究表明,唾液酸链与离子通透孔之间存在相互作用,对通道门控产生细微但显著的影响。钠通道特异性神经毒素是一类源自有毒动物的长链多肽,被发现可能与VGSCs上糖基化区域相邻的结合位点共享。因此,毒素与糖基化VGSC之间的相互作用有望参与到探讨糖基化在调节涉及VGSCs的神经网络活动中的作用的研究中来。本文将涵盖糖基化介导的VGSCs功能的最新研究进展以及毒素与糖基化VGSCs之间相互作用的可能潜在机制,这可能会填补在确定VGSCs的药理学靶点和治疗价值方面的知识空白。