pyrazine uses mg The neuronal glycine receptor HSOR allopreg

The neuronal glycine receptor/3α-HSOR/allopregnanolone pathway may also be extended to the central nervous effects of gelsemine and koumine in brain. 3α-HSOR is expressed in certain brain regions in rats and humans, such as the limbic system including hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala, in addition to the spinal cord [22], [59]. Allopregnanolone is also extensively demonstrated to have neuroprotective, antidepressant and anxiolytic effects [60]. Truly, gelsemine, koumine and gelsenicine, the Gelsemium-derived alkaloids, exhibited anxiolytic effects in a variety of animal anxiety models, such as the elevated plus maze model [9], [61]. In addition, gelsemine alleviates both neuropathic pain and sleep disturbance in neuropathic mice induced partial sciatic nerve ligation [62]. Our data showed that treatment with gelsemine and koumine stimulated 3α-HSOR expression in neurons from the hippocampus, and thus provided a physiological basis for gelsemine and koumine to produce central nervous effects.
Author contributions
Conflict of interest
Funding sources This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81673403) and the Shanghai Industrial Translational Project (No. 15401901300).
Introduction The glycine receptor (GlyR), together with several other neurotransmitter receptors, including the nicotinic pyrazine uses mg receptor (nAChR), the type 3 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor (5HT3R), the type A γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABAAR) in vertebrates, and the glutamate receptor chloride channel in invertebrates, belong to the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel (pLGIC) superfamily. The members of this superfamily share common structural and functional characteristics (Miller and Smart, 2010; Thompson et al., 2010). Each receptor subunit is composed of three relatively functionally-independent domains: the N-terminal extracellular domain (ECD), the transmembrane domain (TMD), and the intracellular domain (ICD) (Huang et al., 2015; Du et al., 2015). The ECD presents sites for agonist binding at the interfaces between adjacent subunits. The binding sites are formed by loops A, B, and C from the (+) subunit interface and loops D, E and F from the (-) subunit interface. The TMD comprises four transmembrane alpha-helices (M1-4), which form the ion channel structure. The five M2 helices line the channel pore around a central axis perpendicular to the membrane (Huang et al., 2015; Du et al., 2015). During agonist-gated channel opening, agonist binding, through a gating pathway formed by the transition zone at the interface between the ECD and TMD, leads to the opening of the gate in the channel pore (Nemecz et al., 2016; Gonzalez-Gutierrez et al., 2013). Many mutations introduced to the GlyR compromise its function including ligand-binding (including agonists, antagonists and modulators), channel function and agonist-binding-mediated channel gating. Indeed, mutations naturally occurring in multiple sites in the GlyR α1 subunit are the most common cause of human hereditary hyperekplexia (Bode and Lynch, 2014). Mutations introduced to a specific domain usually affect the primary function of the domain. For example, many mutations introduced to the ECD affect the binding affinity of agonists and competitive antagonists (Grudzinska et al., 2005; Pless et al., 2008), while many mutations introduced to the channel pore-lining M2 helices, affect ion permeation properties, such as conductance (Bormann et al., 1993; Langosch et al., 1994) and selectivity (Keramidas et al., 2000). Moreover, mutations introduced to the transition zone (the interface between the ECD and the TMD) affect the agonist-binding-mediated channel gating process (Lynch et al., 1997). The mutation we focus on in this study is H109A. The H109 residue is located in the inner side of the ECD in the β5 strand between loops A and E (Fig. 1) (Huang et al., 2015; Du et al., 2015). Data has shown that this residue, together with residues H107, T112, and T133, forms a binding site for Zn2+ (Laube et al., 2000; Miller et al., 2005a). Pharmacologically, Zn2+ binding to this site with relatively low affinity (Zn2+ effective concentrations > 10 μM), induces inhibition on the GlyR-mediated currents (Laube et al., 1995; Lynch et al., 1998; Bloomenthal et al., 1994); whereas the binding of Zn2+ to a discrete site, with relatively high affinity (Zn2+ effective concentrations of 20 nM–1 μM), results in a potentiation of the GlyR-mediated currents (Miller et al., 2005b). Physiologically, Zn2+ is commonly stored in the presynaptic vesicle, ready to be co-released with neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft (Birinyi et al., 2001; Burgos et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2016), supposedly exerting a modulatory effect on the postsynaptic GlyR.