Molecular modelling of the vasopressin V2 receptor/antagonist interactions

We predict some essential interactions between the V2 vasopressin renal receptor (V2R) and its selective peptide antagonist desGly9-[Mca1,D-Ile2,Ile4]AVP, and compare these predictions with the earlier ones for the non-peptide OPC-36120 antagonist- and the [Arg8]vasopressin (AVP) agonist-V2 receptor interactions. V2R controls antidiuresis in mammals and belongs to the superfamily of the heptahelical transmembrane (7TM) G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR)s. V2R was built, the ligands docked and the structures relaxed using advanced molecular modeling techniques. Both the agonist and the antagonists (no matter whether of peptide- or non-peptide type) appear to prefer a common V2R compartment for docking. The receptor amino-acid residues, potentially important in ligand binding, are mainly in the TM3-TM7 helices. A few of these residues are invariant for the whole GPCR superfamily while most of them are conserved in the subfamily of neurohypophyseal receptors, to which V2R belongs. Some of the equivalent residues in a related V1a receptor have been earlier reported as critical for the ligand affinity.