Conotoxins That Could Provide Analgesia through Voltage Gated Sodium Channel Inhibition

Toxins

Nehan R. Munasinghe²  MacDonald J. Christie¹ 

[1] Discipline of Pharmacology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

关键词: conotoxins;    toxins;    Na_V;    ion channels;    pain;    analgesia;    inhibition;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins7124890

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Chronic pain creates a large socio-economic burden around the world. It is physically and mentally debilitating, and many sufferers are unresponsive to current therapeutics. Many drugs that provide pain relief have adverse side effects and addiction liabilities. Therefore, a great need has risen for alternative treatment strategies. One rich source of potential analgesic compounds that has emerged over the past few decades are conotoxins. These toxins are extremely diverse and display selective activity at ion channels. Voltage gated sodium (Na_V) channels are one such group of ion channels that play a significant role in multiple pain pathways. This review will explore the literature around conotoxins that bind Na_V channels and determine their analgesic potential.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.