Ligand-gated ion channels 2 Flashcards
What are 5 drug targets of GABAARs
1.Benzodiazepines
2. Alcohol
3. Barbiturates
4. Anaesthetics
5. Neurosteroids
What action do BZs have
- Multiple actions e.g. anxiety relieving, anticonvulsants
What action does alcohol have
- Ethanol binds to GABAARs (as well as ACh, 5HT, NMDA-Rs)
- NOT selective for GABAaRS
What action do barbiturates have
- pentobarbital has sedative/anticonvulsant effects
What action does anaesthetics have
- e.g. etomidate & propofol are volatile anaesthetics that act at GABAARs
What are examples of neurosteroids
- Metabolites of progesterone & deoxycorticosterone
What are positive modulators
- enhance agonist induced action
- Some BZs increase GABA induced Cl- channel opening by increasing efficacy of GABA for channel opening by increasing open frequency probability
What are negative modulators
- reduce agonist-induced action
- e.g. Some BZs decrease GABA induced Cl- channel opening
What do barbiturates do and compare to BZs
- barbiturates (e.g. pentobarbital) bind to a different site and prolong lifetime of open state – even in the absence of GABA
- BZs are allosteric modulators – therapeutic advance on barbiturates as safer
Why are allosteric modulators used as LGIC drug targets rather than antagonists?
- Large repertoire of allosteric modulators for a particular receptor
- Binding of an allosteric modulator is not restricted to the ligand-binding site or the ion pore
- Orthosteric antagonists can cause insurmountable blockade of the receptor and obliterate the physiological response
- Positive modulators could “turn up” an inhibitory pathway
- Negative allosteric modulators reduce agonist sensitivity and activity
- Can target particular receptor subtypes depending on subunit composition
- Keep the temporal and spatial activation of the receptors- only activates when GABAa is present
- Understanding of subunits gives potential for increased selectivity
What is the allosteric site
- Benzodiazepines are allosteric modulators that bind at the interface between the a/g subunit – allosteric site
Describe structure of BZs
- The core of all BZ ligands is a benzene ring joined to a 7-membered 1,4-diazepine ring
- R side groups influence affinity and intrinsic efficacy
What do BZs do
- BZs enhance the response to GABA by facilitating the opening of GABA activated chloride channels
- They bind specifically to a regulatory site of the receptor
- act to allosterically increase the affinity of GABA for the receptor
What are the different classes of BZs
- Bz agonists- 100% efficacy- whether you turn up or down effect of intrinsic GABA
- BZ inverse agonists- bind to the site but produce the opposite effect and are said to have negative intrinsic efficacy- negative allosteric modulators
- BZ antagonists- bind the a/g site but are unable to activate the receptor- intrinsic efficacy=0
What are positive allosteric modulators
- Full agonist
- Partial agonist
What are negative allosteric modulators
- Antagonists
- Inverse agonists- turn down amount of chloride going through the GABA receptor
What are the pros of BZs
- Sedation - pre op
- Anxiolysis
- Hypnotic
- Anticonvulsant
What are the cons of BZs
- Memory loss
- sedation
- Abuse potential
- Addictive
- Withdrawal symptom
Are all GABAARs sensitive to BZs
- No
- Only alpha1,2,3 and 5 containing receptors bind BZ with appreciable affinity
- A1,6 are not sensitive
- Beta subunit has no effect on BZ binding
What subunit appears to determine BZ effects
- Alpha
Why was the alpha subunit thought to determine BZ effects
- Recombinant GABAAR studies identified that mutating a His to Arg in the BZ binding site abolished binding of classical BZs but does not affect receptor assembly or sensitivity to GABA
- a1, a2, a3 and a5 subunits contain this His residue whereas a4 and a6 contain an Arg residue in the same position
- Sedative and amnesic effects of diazepam are mediated by a1 containing GABAARs
- Anxiolytic effects of diazepam are mediated by a2/a3 containing GABAARs
Describe light/dark choice test
- His res at position 101 is mutated to Arg In alpha 2 subunit
- Only thing that is changed
- When challenged with BZs – light dark test
- Approach avoidance task
- Amount of time in dark or light compartment changes - no difference in mutated
- Anxiolytics increase time spent in Lit area
- Light is aversive- brightly lit and open, dark is safe and closed
Describe the elevated plus test
- Different compartments of maze
- Some open and aversive
- Anxiolytics increase time spent in open arms of cross
- When point mutation on alpha 2 there is no effect of BZ on time spent
Describe what happens when tests carried out with alpha 3 mutation instead of alpha 2
- Same response as without mutation
- Suggests anxiolytic actions of Diazepan can be prescribed to alpha 2 receptors