A pentasymmetric open channel blocker for Cys-loop receptor channels.

Carta, Valentina; Pangerl, Michael; Baur, Roland; Puthenkalam, Roshan; Ernst, Margot; Trauner, Dirk; Sigel, Erwin (2014). A pentasymmetric open channel blocker for Cys-loop receptor channels. PLoS ONE, 9(9), e106688. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0106688

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γ-Aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAA receptors) are chloride ion channels composed of five subunits, mediating fast synaptic and tonic inhibition in the mammalian brain. These receptors show near five-fold symmetry that is most pronounced in the second trans-membrane domain M2 lining the Cl- ion channel. To take advantage of this inherent symmetry, we screened a variety of aromatic anions with matched symmetry and found an inhibitor, pentacyanocyclopentdienyl anion (PCCP-) that exhibited all characteristics of an open channel blocker. Inhibition was strongly dependent on the membrane potential. Through mutagenesis and covalent modification, we identified the region α1V256-α1T261 in the rat recombinant GABAA receptor to be important for PCCP- action. Introduction of positive charges into M2 increased the affinity for PCCP- while PCCP- prevented the access of a positively charged molecule into M2. Interestingly, other anion selective cys-loop receptors were also inhibited by PCCP-, among them the Drosophila RDL GABAA receptor carrying an insecticide resistance mutation, suggesting that PCCP- could serve as an insecticide.

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