Methyllycaconitine, alpha-bungarotoxin and (+)-tubocurarine block fast ATP-gated currents in rat dorsal root ganglion cells

Gastrointestinal neuroimmune disruption in a mouse model of Gulf War illness

Gulf War illness (GWI) is a chronic multisymptom disorder that is prominent in Gulf War veterans. Major unexplained symptoms of GWI include functional gastrointestinal disorders and undiagnosed illnesses, including neurologic disorders. Exposure to the antinerve gas drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) is linked to the development of GWI, but the exact mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that PB alters gut function by disrupting the neural and immune systems of the intestine. We exposed male and female mice to physiologically comparable amounts of PB that match the dose, route, and time frame of exposure experienced by Gulf War veterans and assessed the acute and chronic impacts on gastrointestinal functions, the functional architecture of the enteric nervous system, and immune responses in the gut and brain. Exposure to PB drove acute alterations to colonic motility and structure in both male and female mice that transitioned to chronic changes in gut functions. PB drove acute alterations to enteric neural and glial activity, glial reactivity, and neuron survival with glial reactivity persisting into the chronic phase in male mice. Despite having no effect on colonic permeability, exposure to PB caused major shifts in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the colon and brain that suggest immunosuppressive effects. Interestingly, immune disruption was still evident in the colon and brain in female animals at 1 mo following exposure to PB. Together, our results show that the paradigm of PB exposure experienced by veterans of the Persian Gulf War contributes to long-lasting pathophysiology by driving enteric neuroinflammation, promoting immunosuppression, and altering functional anatomy of the colon in a sex-dependent manner.-Hernandez, S., Fried, D. E., Grubišić, V., McClain, J. L., Gulbransen, B. D. Gastrointestinal neuroimmune disruption in a mouse model of Gulf War illness.

Presynaptic P2X1-3 and α3-containing nicotinic receptors assemble into functionally interacting ion channels in the rat hippocampus

Previous studies documented a cross-talk between purinergic P2X (P2XR) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) in heterologous expression systems and peripheral preparations. We now investigated if this occurred in native brain preparations and probed its physiological function. We found that P2XR and nAChR were enriched in hippocampal terminals, where both P2X1-3R and α3, but not α4, nAChR subunits were located in the active zone and in dopamine-β-hydroxylase-positive hippocampal terminals. Notably, P2XR ligands displaced nAChR binding and nAChR ligands displaced P2XR binding to hippocampal synaptosomes. In addition, a negative P2XR/nAChR cross-talk was observed in the control of the evoked release of noradrenaline from rat hippocampal synaptosomes, characterized by a less-than-additive facilitatory effect upon co-activation of both receptors. This activity-dependent cross-inhibition was confirmed in Xenopus oocytes transfected with P2X1-3Rs and α3β2 (but not α4β2) nAChR. Besides, P2X2 co-immunoprecipitated α3β2 (but not α4β2) nAChR, both in HEK cells and rat hippocampal membranes indicating that this functional interaction is supported by a physical association between P2XR and nAChR. Moreover, eliminating extracellular ATP with apyrase in hippocampal slices promoted the inhibitory effect of the nAChR antagonist tubocurarine on noradrenaline release induced by high- but not low-frequency stimulation. Overall, these results provide integrated biochemical, pharmacological and functional evidence showing that P2X1-3R and α3β2 nAChR are physically and functionally interconnected at the presynaptic level to control excessive noradrenergic terminal activation upon intense synaptic firing in the hippocampus.

Biomolecular recognition of antagonists by α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: Antagonistic mechanism and structure-activity relationships studies

As the key constituent of ligand-gated ion channels in the central nervous system, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and neurodegenerative diseases are strongly coupled in the human species. In recently years the developments of selective agonists by using nAChRs as the drug target have made a large progress, but the studies of selective antagonists are severely lacked. Currently these antagonists rest mainly on the extraction of partly natural products from some animals and plants; however, the production of these crude substances is quite restricted, and artificial synthesis of nAChR antagonists is still one of the completely new research fields. In the context of this manuscript, our primary objective was to comprehensively analyze the recognition patterns and the critical interaction descriptors between target α7 nAChR and a series of the novel compounds with potentially antagonistic activity by means of virtual screening, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation, and meanwhile these recognition reactions were also compared with the biointeraction of α7 nAChR with a commercially natural antagonist - methyllycaconitine. The results suggested clearly that there are relatively obvious differences of molecular structures between synthetic antagonists and methyllycaconitine, while the two systems have similar recognition modes on the whole. The interaction energy and the crucially noncovalent forces of the α7 nAChR-antagonists are ascertained according to the method of Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area. Several amino acid residues, such as B/Tyr-93, B/Lys-143, B/Trp-147, B/Tyr-188, B/Tyr-195, A/Trp-55 and A/Leu-118 played a major role in the α7 nAChR-antagonist recognition processes, in particular, residues B/Tyr-93, B/Trp-147 and B/Tyr-188 are the most important. These outcomes tally satisfactorily with the discussions of amino acid mutations. Based on the explorations of three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationships, the structure-antagonistic activity relationships of antagonists and the characteristics of α7 nAChR-ligand recognitions were received a reasonable summary as well. These attempts emerged herein would not only provide helpful guidance for the design of α7 nAChR antagonists, but shed new light on the subsequent researches in antagonistic mechanism.

Physiology and pathophysiology of purinergic neurotransmission

This review is focused on purinergic neurotransmission, i.e., ATP released from nerves as a transmitter or cotransmitter to act as an extracellular signaling molecule on both pre- and postjunctional membranes at neuroeffector junctions and synapses, as well as acting as a trophic factor during development and regeneration. Emphasis is placed on the physiology and pathophysiology of ATP, but extracellular roles of its breakdown product, adenosine, are also considered because of their intimate interactions. The early history of the involvement of ATP in autonomic and skeletal neuromuscular transmission and in activities in the central nervous system and ganglia is reviewed. Brief background information is given about the identification of receptor subtypes for purines and pyrimidines and about ATP storage, release, and ectoenzymatic breakdown. Evidence that ATP is a cotransmitter in most, if not all, peripheral and central neurons is presented, as well as full accounts of neurotransmission and neuromodulation in autonomic and sensory ganglia and in the brain and spinal cord. There is coverage of neuron-glia interactions and of purinergic neuroeffector transmission to nonmuscular cells. To establish the primitive and widespread nature of purinergic neurotransmission, both the ontogeny and phylogeny of purinergic signaling are considered. Finally, the pathophysiology of purinergic neurotransmission in both peripheral and central nervous systems is reviewed, and speculations are made about future developments.

Purinergic P2 receptors as targets for novel analgesics

Following hints in the early literature about adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) injections producing pain, an ion-channel nucleotide receptor was cloned in 1995, P2X3 subtype, which was shown to be localized predominantly on small nociceptive sensory nerves. Since then, there has been an increasing number of papers exploring the role of P2X3 homomultimer and P2X2/3 heteromultimer receptors on sensory nerves in a wide range of organs, including skin, tongue, tooth pulp, intestine, bladder, and ureter that mediate the initiation of pain. Purinergic mechanosensory transduction has been proposed for visceral pain, where ATP released from epithelial cells lining the bladder, ureter, and intestine during distension acts on P2X3 and P2X2/3, and possibly P2Y, receptors on subepithelial sensory nerve fibers to send messages to the pain centers in the brain as well as initiating local reflexes. P1, P2X, and P2Y receptors also appear to be involved in nociceptive neural pathways in the spinal cord. P2X4 receptors on spinal microglia have been implicated in allodynia. The involvement of purinergic signaling in long-term neuropathic pain and inflammation as well as acute pain is discussed as well as the development of P2 receptor antagonists as novel analgesics.