Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P20366 (substance P)
 21,176 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This work was aimed at the morphological and biochemical characterisation of the most susceptible neuronal subpopulation to rabies virus (RABV) infection. Adult mouse DRG cultures were infected with RABV and double-processed for viral antigen detection and neuropeptides: calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), galanin (GAL), substance P (SP), neuropeptide Y (NPY) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). It was found that 56% of the neurons in culture were small (diameter < 20 microm) but, in spite of this, 69% of the infected neurons had intermediate and large diameters (> or = 20 microm). More than 50% of infected neurons expressed NPY, VIP or SP, whereas no association was found between infected neurons and the presence of CGRP or GAL. Despite SP having been shown to be a small neuron marker, it was found that RABV infects medium and large-sized SP positive cells. RABV preference for larger neurons could explain part of the neuropathogenesis since it can be suggested that, following a rabid accident, the virus uses large neurons (mainly innervating muscle and joints) in vivo to be transported later on to the central nervous system.
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PMID:Morphological and biochemical characterisation of sensory neurons infected in vitro with rabies virus. 1744 Jul 42

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are pentameric membrane-bound proteins belonging to the large family of ligand-gated ion channels. nAChRs possess various binding sites which interact with compounds of different chemical nature, including peptides. Historically first peptides found to act on nAChR were synthetic fragments of snake alpha-neurotoxins, competitive receptor antagonists. Later it was shown that fragments of glycoprotein from rabies virus, having homology to alpha-neurotoxins, and polypeptide neurotoxins waglerins from the venom of Wagler's pit viper Trimeresurus (Tropidolaemus) wagleri bind in a similar way, waglerins being efficient blockers of muscle-type nAChRs. Neuropeptide substance P appears to interact with the channel moiety of nAChR. beta-Amyloid, a peptide forming senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease, also can bind to nAChR, although the mode of binding is still unclear. However, the most well-studied peptides interacting with the ligand-binding sites of nAChRs are so-called alpha-conotoxins, peptide neurotoxins from marine snails of Conus genus. First alpha-conotoxins were discovered in the late 1970s, and now it is a rapidly growing family due to isolation of peptides from multiple Conus species, as well as to cloning, and chemical synthesis of new analogues. Because of their unique selectivity towards distinct nAChR subtypes, alpha-conotoxins became valuable tools in nAChR research. Recent X-ray structures of alpha-conotoxin complexes with acetylcholine-binding protein, a model of nAChR ligand-binding domains, revealed the details of the nAChR ligand-binding sites and provided the basis for design of novel ligands.
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PMID:Naturally occurring and synthetic peptides acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. 1960 41