Research Output
Brain α-Neurotoxin-Binding Proteins and Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
  The study of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) of skeletal muscle and fish electric organ has been greatly facilitated by the application of the α-neurotoxins (postsynaptic toxins) of elapid and hydrophid snake venoms, such as α-bungarotoxin (α-BTX), introduced by C. Y. Lee (Lee, 1973). These polypeptide toxins bind to the receptor with KD values 10−9 and 10−12 M, causing blockade of function. It has been found that the peripheral (vertebrate muscle and electric organ) type of AChR invariably has two of these high-affinity α-toxin binding sites, one on each of the α subunits of its α2βγδ pentameric structure (for reviews see Dolly and Barnard, 1984; Popot and Changeux, 1984) . However, attempts to use α-bungarotoxin as a probe for the more poorly-characterised, neuronal nicotinic receptors have caused a great deal of confusion.

  • Date:

    31 December 1988

  • Publication Status:

    Published

  • Publisher

    Springer

  • DOI:

    10.1007/978-3-642-73172-3_32

  • Library of Congress:

    RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry

  • Dewey Decimal Classification:

    612 Human physiology

Citation

Darlison, M. G., Hicks, A. A., Cockcroft, V. B., Squire, M. D., & Barnard, E. A. (1988). Brain α-Neurotoxin-Binding Proteins and Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors. In Cellular and Molecular Basis of Synaptic Transmission, 475-492. Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73172-3_32

Keywords

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor, Optic Tectum, Electric Organ, Chick Brain, Subunit Type

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