Title :
Bioactive scorpion peptides: a powerful molecular tools for ion modulation in excitable cells
Author :
Murgia, A. ; Frau, A. ; Possani, L.D. ; Prestipino, G.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Cybern. & Biophys., CNR, Genova, Italy
Abstract :
By means of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) the soluble venoms of the Amazoniam scorpion Tityus cambridgei, Mexican scorpion Centruroides limpidus and North-African scorpion Androctonus australis, were fractioned into over 50 different components for each venom. Electrophysiological screening of many of these peptides has been carried out on voltage-dependent ion channels of cultured neuronal cells by use of the patch-clamp technique in the whole-cell configuration. It has been found that some toxins affect selectively, with high affinity, Na+, K+ and Ca++ channels. These new peptides will be important for future studies of their biophysical, physiological and pharmacological properties.
Keywords :
biochemistry; bioelectric phenomena; biomembrane transport; chromatography; molecular biophysics; neurophysiology; Amazoniam scorpion Tityus cambridgei; Ca; Ca++ channel; K; K+; Na; Na+; North-African scorpion Androctonus australis; biophysical properties; cultured neuronal cells; electrophysiological screening; patch-clamp technique; pharmacological properties; physiological properties; voltage-dependent ion channels; whole-cell configuration; Biophysics; Cells (biology); Cybernetics; Drugs; Instruments; Kinetic theory; Nerve fibers; Neurons; Peptides; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Engineering, 2002. Proceedings of the IEEE-EMBS Special Topic Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7557-2
DOI :
10.1109/MCTE.2002.1175013
