The structure of (-)-kaitocephalin bound to the ligand binding domain of the (S)-α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)/glutamate receptor, GluA2.

Glutamate receptors mediate the majority of excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system, and excessive stimulation of these receptors is involved in a variety of neurological disorders and neuronal damage from stroke. The development of new subtype-specific antagonists would be of considerable therapeutic interest. Natural products can provide important new lead compounds for drug discovery. The only natural product known to inhibit glutamate receptors competitively is (-)-kaitocephalin, which was isolated from the fungus Eupenicillium shearii and found to protect CNS neurons from excitotoxicity. Previous work has shown that it is a potent antagonist of some subtypes of glutamate receptors (AMPA and NMDA, but not kainate). The structure of kaitocephalin bound to the ligand binding domain of the AMPA receptor subtype, GluA2, is reported here. The structure suggests how kaitocephalin can be used as a scaffold to develop more selective and high affinity antagonists for glutamate receptors.