Interactions between 3-(Trifluoromethyl)-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)diazirine and Tetracaine, Phencyclidine, or Histrionicotoxin in theTorpedo Species Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Ion Channel

  1. Martin J. Gallagher1,
  2. David C. Chiara and
  3. Jonathan B. Cohen
  1. Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

    Abstract

    3-(Trifluoromethyl)-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)diazirine ([125I]TID) and [3H]tetracaine, an aromatic amine, are noncompetitive antagonists (NCAs) of theTorpedo species nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), which have been shown by photoaffinity labeling to bind to a common site in the ion channel in the closed state. Although tetracaine and TID bind to the same site, the amine NCAs phencyclidine (PCP) and histrionicotoxin (HTX), which are also believed to bind within the ion channel, interact competitively with tetracaine but allosterically with TID. To better characterize drug interactions within the nAChR ion channel in the closed state, we identified the amino acids photoaffinity labeled by [125I]TID in the presence of tetracaine, PCP, or HTX. In the absence of other drugs, [125I]TID reacts with αLeu-251 (αM2-9) and αVal-255 (αM2-13) and the homologous residues in each of the other subunits. None of the NCAs shifted the sites of [125I]TID labeling to other residues within the ion channel. Tetracaine inhibited [125I]TID labeling of M2-9 and M2-13 without changing the relative125I incorporation at these positions, whereas PCP and HTX each altered the pattern of [125I]TID incorporation at M2-9 and M2-13. These results indicate that tetracaine and TID bind in a mutually exclusive manner to a common site in the closed channel that is spatially separated from the binding sites for PCP and HTX.

    Footnotes

    • Send reprint requests to: Jonathan B. Cohen, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: jonathan_cohen{at}hms.harvard.edu

    • 1 Present address: Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

    • This research was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Grant NS19522 and by an award in Structural Neurobiology from the Keck Foundation.

    • Abbreviations:
      nAChR
      nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
      NCA
      noncompetitive antagonist
      TID
      3-(trifluoromethyl)-3-(m-iodophenyl)diazirine
      HTX
      histrionicotoxin
      PCP
      phencyclidine
      ACh
      acetylcholine
      EndoLys-C
      endoproteinase Lys-C
      PAGE
      polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
      1-AP
      1-azidopyrene
      HPLC
      high-performance liquid chromatography
      PTH
      phenylthiohydantoin
      ANOVA
      analysis of variance
      • Received January 17, 2000.
      • Accepted March 6, 2001.
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