Spatial Relationships between Drug Binding Sites on the Surface of the Acetylcholine Receptor
Abstract
This report is divided into three sections dealing with the development of fluorescent probes of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) . Section I summarizes our characterization of the interaction of ethidium with the noncompetitive inhibitory (NCI) site identified by phencycliding (PCP) binding. Due to an incomplete understanding of the interrelation ship between the agonist/antagonist and NCI sites on the AChR, ethidium was originally thought only to interact with the agonist/antagonist sites. However, we show that ethidium, indeed, binds selectively to the NCI site when the AChR is in the desensitized state. Section II deals with our efforts to convert the a-toxin- bound AChR to the desensitized state with butanol. Our hope was that, if the a- toxin bound could be converted to the desensitized state, ethidium could be utilized in conjunction with specifically labelled a-toxins to measure the distances between agonist/antagonist and NCI site. (JES)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 15, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA222751
Entities
People
- David A. Johnson
Organizations
- University of California, Riverside