GsMTX-4: Peptide Toxin Inhibits Atrial Fibrillation
Now Available from Peptides International

PEPTIDE ISOLATED FROM TARANTULA PREVENTS  HEARTBEAT FROM LOSING RHYTHM: GsMTx-4

Mechanosensitive ion channels (MSCs) are ubiquitous from unicellular to multicellular organisms and have been documented in very early life forms belonging to Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea domains. MSCs participate in physiological processes such as touch and pain sensation, salt and fluid balance, blood pressure control, cell volume regulation, and turgor control (1).

It is has been reported that in stretch-activated ion channel (SACs) research, cationic metal, Gd³⁺, and cationic compounds, including amiloride and cationic antibiotics, have been used as non-selective blockers of MSCs. In 2000, Professor F. Sachs (SUNY at Buffalo) discovered a peptide toxin named GsMTx-4 in the venom of the tarantula Grammostola spatulata that possessed specific blocking activity for stretch-activated currents (2). GsMTx-4 blocks 1) SAC current in outside-out patches from adult rat astrocytes (Kd=630 nM), 2) swelling-activated whole cell current (an inwardly rectifying cation selective current) in cardiac myocytes at 400 nM but not an outwardly rectifying Cl^- current, and 3) MSC current in normal rat kidney cells at 5 mM (2, 3). Also, GsMTx-4 inhibits atrial fibrillation associated with dilatation at 170 nM (1,4).

cDNA cloning provided the primary sequence as a 34-residue peptide (3), which possesses three disulfide linkages (connected in Cys¹-Cys⁴, Cys²-Cys⁵, and Cys³-Cys⁶ pattern), indicating that GsMTx-4 is a member of "inhibitor cystine knot" peptides (5). GsMTx-4 should prove to be a valuable tool in cardiovascular research since this peptide toxin inhibits atrial fibrillation.

1. O.P. Hamill and B. Martinac, Physiol. Rev., 81, 685 (2001). (Review; MSCs)

2. T.M. Suchyna, J.H. Johnson, K. Hamer, J.F. Leykam, D.A. Gage, H.F. Clemo, C.M. Baumgarten, and F. Sachs, J. Gen. Physiol., 115, 583 (2000). (Original)

3. K.L. Ostrow, A. Mammoser, T. Suchyna, F. Sachs, R. Oswald, S. Kubo, N. Chino, and P.A. Gottlieb, Toxicon, 42, 263 (2003). (Primary structure; cDNA sequence / Pharmacol.)

4. F. Bode, F. Sachs, and M.R. Franz, Nature, 409, 35 (2001). (Pharmacol.)

5. R.E. Oswald, T.M. Suchyna, R. McFeeters, P. Gottlieb, and F. Sachs, J. Biol. Chem., 277, 34443 (2002). (Solution Structure / S-S Bond)

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CODE

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

VIAL

USD

PCB-4393-s
 

0.1 mg vial

229

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