Shellfish Toxins Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels

Marine Drugs

Fan Zhang¹  Xunxun Xu¹  Tingting Li¹ 

[1] Cooperative Innovation Center of Engineering and New Products for Developmental Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China;

关键词: VGSCs;    shellfish toxins;    structure;    bioactivity;    pharmaceutical potential;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md11124698

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) play a central role in the generation and propagation of action potentials in excitable neurons and other cells and are targeted by commonly used local anesthetics, antiarrhythmics, and anticonvulsants. They are also common targets of neurotoxins including shellfish toxins. Shellfish toxins are a variety of toxic secondary metabolites produced by prokaryotic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic dinoflagellates in both marine and fresh water systems, which can accumulate in marine animals via the food chain. Consumption of shellfish toxin-contaminated seafood may result in potentially fatal human shellfish poisoning. This article provides an overview of the structure, bioactivity, and pharmacology of shellfish toxins that act on VGSCs, along with a brief discussion on their pharmaceutical potential for pain management.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.