RESUMO
The voltage-gated sodium channel subtype 1.2 (NaV1.2) is instrumental in the initiation of action potentials in the nervous system, making it a natural drug target for neurological diseases. Therefore, there is much pharmacological interest in finding blockers of NaV1.2 and improving their affinity and selectivity properties. An extensive family of peptide toxins from cone snails (conotoxins) block NaV channels, thus they provide natural templates for the design of drugs targeting NaV channels. Unfortunately, progress was hampered due to the absence of any NaV structures. The recent determination of cryo-EM structures for NaV channels has finally broken this impasse. Here, we use the NaV1.2 structure in complex with µ-conotoxin KIIIA (KIIIA) in computational studies with the aim of improving KIIIA's affinity and blocking capacity for NaV1.2. Only three KIIIA amino acid residues are available for mutation (S5, S6, and S13). After performing molecular modeling and simulations on NaV1.2-KIIIA complex, we have identified the S5R, S6D, and S13K mutations as the most promising for additional contacts. We estimate these contacts to boost the affinity of KIIIA for NaV1.2 from nanomole to picomole domain. Moreover, the KIIIA[S5R, S6D, S13K] analogue makes contacts with all four channel domains, thus enabling the complete blocking of the channel (KIIIA partially blocks as it has contacts with three domains). The proposed KIIIA analogue, once confirmed experimentally, may lead to novel anti-epileptic drugs.
Assuntos
Conotoxinas/farmacologia , Canal de Sódio Disparado por Voltagem NAV1.2/efeitos dos fármacos , Bloqueadores do Canal de Sódio Disparado por Voltagem/farmacologia , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Anticonvulsivantes/química , Anticonvulsivantes/farmacologia , Conotoxinas/química , Caramujo Conus , Desenho de Fármacos , Humanos , Modelos Moleculares , Simulação de Dinâmica Molecular , Mutação , Bloqueadores do Canal de Sódio Disparado por Voltagem/química , Bloqueadores do Canal de Sódio Disparado por Voltagem/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
The electronic structure of RbTiOPO(4) has been investigated with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Detailed photoemission spectra of the element core levels have been recorded under excitation by nonmonochromatic Al Kα radiation (1486.6 eV). The chemical bonding parameters are compared to those reported for complex titanates and phosphates. The band structures of KTiOPO(4), RbTiOPO(4), K(0.535)R(0.465)TiOPO(4) and TlTiOPO(4) have been calculated by ab initio methods and compared to available experimental results. It is found that the band structure of KTP-type phosphate crystals is weakly dependent on the nature of the A-site (A=K, Rb, Tl) element.