Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266003, China.
Mar Drugs. 2019 May 23;17(5):303. doi: 10.3390/md17050303.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that are involved in fast synaptic transmission and mediated physiological activities in the nervous system. α-Conotoxin ImI exhibits subtype-specific blockade towards homomeric α7 and α9 receptors. In this study, we established a method to build a 2×ImI-dendrimer/h (human) α7 nAChR model, and based on this model, we systematically investigated the molecular interactions between the 2×ImI-dendrimer and hα7 nAChR. Our results suggest that the 2×ImI-dendrimer possessed much stronger potency towards hα7 nAChR than the α-ImI monomer and demonstrated that the linker between α-ImI contributed to the potency of the 2×ImI-dendrimer by forming a stable hydrogen-bond network with hα7 nAChR. Overall, this study provides novel insights into the binding mechanism of α-ImI dendrimer to hα7 nAChR, and the methodology reported here opens an avenue for the design of more selective dendrimers with potential usage as drug/gene carriers, macromolecular drugs, and molecular probes.
烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体(nAChRs)是配体门控离子通道,参与神经系统中的快速突触传递和介导生理活动。α-Conotoxin ImI 对同型 α7 和 α9 受体表现出亚型特异性阻断。在这项研究中,我们建立了一种构建 2×ImI-树枝状大分子/h(人)α7 nAChR 模型的方法,并基于该模型,系统研究了 2×ImI-树枝状大分子与 hα7 nAChR 之间的分子相互作用。我们的结果表明,2×ImI-树枝状大分子对 hα7 nAChR 的活性比 α-ImI 单体强得多,并表明 α-ImI 之间的连接物通过与 hα7 nAChR 形成稳定的氢键网络,对 2×ImI-树枝状大分子的活性有贡献。总的来说,这项研究为 α-ImI 树枝状大分子与 hα7 nAChR 的结合机制提供了新的见解,这里报道的方法为设计更具选择性的树枝状大分子开辟了道路,这些树枝状大分子具有作为药物/基因载体、高分子药物和分子探针的潜在用途。