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Functional determinants by which snake and cone snail toxins block the alpha 7 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine
D Servent1, H L Thanh, S Antil
1Département d'Ingénierie et d'Etudes des Proteines, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Journal of Physiology, Paris
|October 23, 1998
Abstract:
Snakes and cone snails produce toxins which block muscular and/or neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). This paper mostly focuses on the determinants by which a snake long chain curaremimetic toxin and the cone snail toxin ImI bind specifically to the alpha 7 neuronal receptor. In both cases, the site involves a small turn-like structure constrained by two half-cystines.