Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in drug discovery: study of Alexa532-endothelin 1 binding to the endothelin ETA receptor to describe the pharmacological profile of natural products.

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and the newly synthesized Alexa532-ET1 were used to study the dynamics of the endothelin ET(A) receptor-ligand complex alone and under the influence of a semisynthetic selective antagonist and a fungal extract on living A10 cells. Dose-dependent increase of inositol phosphate production was seen for Alexa532-ET1, and its binding was reduced to 8% by the selective endothelin ET(A) antagonist BQ-123, confirming the specific binding of Alexa532-ET1 to the endothelin ET(A) receptor. Two different lateral mobilities of the receptor-ligand complexes within the cell membrane were found allowing the discrimination of different states for this complex. BQ-123 showed a strong binding affinity to the "inactive" receptor state characterized by the slow diffusion time constant. A similar effect was observed for the fungal extract, which completely displaced Alexa532-ET1 from its binding to the "inactive" receptor state. These findings suggest that both BQ-123 and the fungal extract act as inverse agonists.

Role of positions 9 and 10 in the endothelin molecule for biological activity and discrimination of receptor subtypes.

The importance of residues 9 and 10 in endothelin-1 was assessed by studying the responses of the guinea-pig ileum to [Ala9]endothelin-1 and [Ala10]endothelin-1. Both analogues induced relaxation followed by contraction. [Ala9]Endothelin-1 showed similar ED50 values and maximum response to those of endothelin-1, whereas [Ala10]endothelin-1 showed a larger ED50 value and was a partial agonist. Endothelin-1 and [Ala10]endothelin-1 induced similar degrees of tachyphylaxis, whereas [Ala9]endothelin-1 induced very little tachyphylaxis, indicating that Lys9 is important for inducing tachyphylaxis. Apamin inhibited the relaxation induced by endothelin-1 and [Ala9]endothelin-1 but not that induced by [Ala10]endothelin-1. BQ-123 (cyclo[D-Trp-D-Asp-Pro-D-Val-Leu), a specific endothelin ETA receptor antagonist, inhibited [Ala9]endothelin-1-, but not [Ala10]endothelin-1-induced contraction. Cross-tachyphylaxis and additivity studies indicated that [Ala9]endothelin-1, like endothelin-1, acts at the endothelin ETA receptor, whereas [Ala10]endothelin-1 behaved as an endothelin ETB receptor agonist, like sarafotoxin S6c. Thus, the residue at position 10 plays a significant role in receptor activation and is a candidate for further exploration of receptor antagonism.