Abstract

Muscle subtypes of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor contain two acetylcholine binding sites that can be distinguished pharmacologically. The affinities of several alpha-conotoxins for the two acetylcholine binding sites on nicotinic receptors from BC3H1 cells and Torpedo electric organ were investigated. alpha-Conotoxins MI, GI, and SIA each inhibited the binding of 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on BC3H1 cells with two distinct and independent affinities, which differed by > 10,000-fold. The affinities of alpha-conotoxins SI and SII were significantly lower and the differences in the affinities of each of these toxins for the two sites were < 400-fold. alpha-Conotoxins MI, GI, SIA, and SI had higher affinity for the acetylcholine binding site near the alpha/delta subunit interface of nicotinic receptors from BC3H1 cells. However, when assessed using nicotinic receptors from Torpedo electric organ, alpha-conotoxin MI displayed higher affinity for the acetylcholine binding site near the alpha/gamma subunit interface. These observations suggest that species variations in the sequences of the gamma and delta subunits resulted in a dramatic reversal of the relative affinities of the alpha-conotoxins for each acetylcholine binding site. Some of the practical implications of these observations are discussed.