Reconstitution of high-affinity binding of a beta-scorpion toxin to neurotoxin receptor site 4 on purified sodium channels.

Reconstitution of purified sodium channels into phospholipid vesicles restores many aspects of sodium channel function including high-affinity neurotoxin binding and action at neurotoxin receptor sites 1-3 and 5, but neurotoxin binding and action at receptor site 4 has not previously been demonstrated in purified and reconstituted preparations. Toxin IV from the venom of the American scorpion Centruroides suffusus suffusus (Css IV), a beta-scorpion toxin, shifts the voltage dependence of sodium channel activation by binding with high affinity to neurotoxin receptor site 4. Sodium channels were purified from rat brain and reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles composed of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine (65:35). 125I-Css IV, purified by reversed-phase HPLC, bound rapidly and specifically to reconstituted sodium channels. Dissociation of the bound toxin was biphasic with half-times of 0.22 min-1 and 0.015 min-1. At equilibrium, the toxin bound to two classes of specific high-affinity sites, a variable minor class with KD of approximately 0.1 nM and a major class with a KD of approximately 5 nM. Approximately 0.8 mol 125I-Css IV was bound per mole of reconstituted, right-side-out sodium channels, as assessed from comparison of binding of saxitoxin and Css IV. Binding of Css IV was unaffected by membrane potential or by neurotoxins that bind at sites 1-3 or 5, consistent with the characteristics of binding of beta-scorpion toxins to sodium channels in cells and membrane preparations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)