Synthesis of GABAA receptor agonists and evaluation of their alpha-subunit selectivity and orientation in the GABA binding site.
Drugs used to treat various disorders target GABA A receptors. To develop alpha subunit selective compounds, we synthesized 5-(4-piperidyl)-3-isoxazolol (4-PIOL) derivatives. The 3-isoxazolol moiety was substituted by 1,3,5-oxadiazol-2-one, 1,3,5-oxadiazol-2-thione, and substituted 1,2,4-triazol-3-ol heterocycles with modifications to the basic piperidine substituent as well as substituents without basic nitrogen. Compounds were screened by [(3)H]muscimol binding and in patch-clamp experiments with heterologously expressed GABA A alpha ibeta 3gamma 2 receptors (i = 1-6). The effects of 5-aminomethyl-3 H-[1,3,4]oxadiazol-2-one 5d were comparable to GABA for all alpha subunit isoforms. 5-pipe…
A Role for the β1-β2Loop in the Gating of 5-HT3Receptors
Based on theTorpedoacetylcholine receptor structure, Unwin and colleagues (Miyazawa et al., 2003; Unwin, 2005) hypothesized that the transduction of agonist binding to channel gate opening involves a “pin-into-socket” interaction between αV46 at the tip of the extracellular β1-β2loop and the transmembrane M2 segment and M2-M3 loop. We mutated to cysteine the aligned positions in the 5-HT3Aand 5-HT3Bsubunit β1-β2loops K81 and Q70, respectively. The maximal 5-HT-activated currents in receptors containing 5-HT3A/K81C or 5-HT3B/Q70C were markedly reduced compared with wild type. Desensitization of wild-type currents involved fast and slow components. Mutant currents desensitized with only the f…