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Molecular Pharmacology Fast Forward
First published on August 28, 2007; DOI: 10.1124/mol.107.041020

0026-895X/07/7205-1100-1102$20.00
Mol Pharmacol 72:1100-1102, 2007

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Perspectives

Parawixin1: A Spider Toxin Opening New Avenues for Glutamate Transporter Pharmacology

Delany Torres-Salazar, and Christoph Fahlke

Institut für Neurophysiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (D.T.-S., C.F.) and Zentrum für Systemische Neurowissenschaften (C.F.), Hannover, Germany

Abstract

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. After release from glutamatergic nerve terminals, glial and neuronal glutamate transporters remove glutamate from the synaptic cleft to terminate synaptic transmission and to prevent neuronal damage by excessive glutamate receptor activation. In this issue of Molecular Pharmacology, Fontana et al. (p. 1228) report on the action of a venom compound, Parawixin1, on excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs). They demonstrate that this agent selectively affects a glial glutamate transporter, EAAT2, by specifically increasing one particular step of the glutamate uptake cycle. Disturbed glutamate homeostasis seems to be a pathogenetic factor in several neurodegenerative disorders. Because EAAT2 is a key player in determining the extracellular glutamate concentration in the mammalian brain, drugs targeting this protein could prevent glutamate excitotoxicity without blocking glutamatergic transmission. Its specificity and selectivity makes Parawixin1 a perfect starting point to design small molecules for the treatment of pathological conditions caused by alterations of glutamate homeostasis.

Received August 17, 2007; accepted August 28, 2007

Address correspondence to: Christoph Fahlke, Institut für Neurophysiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, D-30625 Hannover, Germany. E-mail: fahlke.christoph{at}mh-hannover.de


Related articles in MolPharm:

Enhancing Glutamate Transport: Mechanism of Action of Parawixin1, a Neuroprotective Compound from Parawixia bistriata Spider Venom
Andréia Cristina Karklin Fontana, Renê de Oliveira Beleboni, Marcin Wlodzimierz Wojewodzic, Wagner Ferreira dos Santos, Joaquim Coutinho-Netto, Nina Julie Grutle, Spencer D. Watts, Niels Christian Danbolt, and Susan G. Amara
MolPharm 2007 72: 1228-1237. [Abstract] [Full Text]  





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