A photoreactive analog of allopregnanolone enables identification of steroid-binding sites in a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.
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ABSTRACT: Many neuroactive steroids potently and allosterically modulate pentameric ligand-gated ion channels, including GABAA receptors (GABAAR) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Allopregnanolone and its synthetic analog alphaxalone are GABAAR-positive allosteric modulators (PAMs), whereas alphaxalone and most neuroactive steroids are nAChR inhibitors. In this report, we used 11?-(p-azidotetrafluorobenzoyloxy)allopregnanolone (F4N3Bzoxy-AP), a general anesthetic and photoreactive allopregnanolone analog that is a potent GABAAR PAM, to characterize steroid-binding sites in the Torpedo ?2??? nAChR in its native membrane environment. We found that F4N3Bzoxy-AP (IC50 = 31 ?m) is 7-fold more potent than alphaxalone in inhibiting binding of the channel blocker [3H]tenocyclidine to nAChRs in the desensitized state. At 300 ?m, neither steroid inhibited binding of [3H]tetracaine, a closed-state selective channel blocker, or of [3H]acetylcholine. Photolabeling identified three distinct [3H]F4N3Bzoxy-AP-binding sites in the nAChR transmembrane domain: 1) in the ion channel, identified by photolabeling in the M2 helices of ?Val-261 and ?Val-269 (position M2-13'); 2) at the interface between the ?M1 and ?M4 helices, identified by photolabeling in ?M1 (?Cys-222/?Leu-223); and 3) at the lipid-protein interface involving ?Trp-453 (M4), a residue photolabeled by small lipophilic probes and promegestone, a steroid nAChR antagonist. Photolabeling in the ion channel and ?M1 was higher in the nAChR-desensitized state than in the resting state and inhibitable by promegestone. These results directly indicate a steroid-binding site in the nAChR ion channel and identify additional steroid-binding sites also occupied by other lipophilic nAChR antagonists.
SUBMITTER: Yu Z
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6514614 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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