These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: A photoisomerizable muscarinic antagonist. Studies of binding and of conductance relaxations in frog heart.
    Author: Nargeot J, Lester HA, Birdsall NJ, Stockton J, Wassermann NH, Erlanger BF.
    Journal: J Gen Physiol; 1982 Apr; 79(4):657-78. PubMed ID: 6978380.
    Abstract:
    These experiments employ the photoisomerizable compound, 3,3'-bis-[alpha-(trimethylammonium)methyl]azobenzene (Bis-Q), to study the response to muscarinic agents in frog myocardium. In homogenates from the heart, trans-Bis-Q blocks the binding of [3H]-N-methylscopolamine to muscarinic receptors. In voltage-clamped atrial trabeculae, trans-Bis-Q blocks the agonist-induced potassium conductance. The equilibrium dose-response curve for carbachol is shifted to the right, suggesting competitive blockade. Both the biochemical and electrophysiological data yield a dissociation constant of 4-5 microM for trans-Bis-Q; the cis configuration is severalfold less potent as a muscarinic blocker. Voltage-clamped preparations were exposed simultaneously to carbachol and Bis-Q and were subjected to appropriately filtered flashes (less than 1 ms duration) from a xenon flashlamp. Trans leads to cis and cis leads to trans photoisomerizations cause small (less than 20%) increases and decreases, respectively, in the agonist-induced current. The relaxation follows an S-shaped time course, including an initial delay or period of zero slope. The entire waveform is described by [1 - exp(-kt)]n. At 23 degrees C, k is approximately 3 s-1 and n is 2. Neither k nor n is affected when: (a) [Bis-Q] is varied between 5 and 100 microM; (b) [carbachol] is varied between 1 and 50 microM; (c) carbachol is replaced by other agonists (muscarine, acetylcholine, or acetyl-beta-methylcholine); or (d) the voltage is varied between the normal resting potential and a depolarization of 80 mV. However, in the range of 13-30 degrees C, k increases with temperature; the Q10 is between 2 and 2.5. In the same range, n does not change significantly. Like other investigators, we conclude that the activation kinetics of the muscarinic K+ conductance are not determined by ligand-receptor binding, but rather by a subsequent sequence of two (or more) steps with a high activation energy.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]