Millions of patients receive general anesthesia in operating rooms around the world every year, and yet, the mechanisms underlying many actions of general anesthetics are not fully understood. Critically, general anesthetics lack selectivity and display the lowest therapeutic index. Thus, the morbidity and mortality associated with the use of general anesthetics is significant. This program project has gathered a strong team of biophysicist, chemists and structural biologists from various institutions (U. Penn., Thomas Jefferson U., Temple U., Drexel U. and U. Pitt.) to investigate the structural basis of general anesthesia with focus on membrane proteins involved in the initiation, propagation and transmission ofthe nerve impulse in the brain. Thus, by merging established and cutting-edge technologies, this project seeks to understand general anesthesia at the atomic level, and thereby facilitate the rational design of a new generation of more effective and safe general anesthetics. Xenopus laevis oocytes will be used to test the functional properties of the membrane proteins under investigation. This is a necessary step in the characterization of general anesthetic targets.
Translating the functional relevance of the molecular data from the other projects to the in vivo condition requires characterization of electrical properties as an initial step. Project 2 provides that capability and expertise for studies in three natural ion channels with highly homologous mammalian counterparts. These results will allow extrapolation to intact cells, tissues and animals, and by connecting the molecular and in vivo effects, enable drug improvement in the future.
| Loll, Patrick J (2018) Structural Analysis of Anesthetics in Complex with Soluble Proteins. Methods Enzymol 603:3-20 |
| Yang, Elaine; Granata, Daniele; Eckenhoff, Roderic G et al. (2018) Propofol inhibits prokaryotic voltage-gated Na+ channels by promoting activation-coupled inactivation. J Gen Physiol 150:1299-1316 |
| Woll, Kellie A; Guzik-Lendrum, Stephanie; Bensel, Brandon M et al. (2018) An allosteric propofol-binding site in kinesin disrupts kinesin-mediated processive movement on microtubules. J Biol Chem 293:11283-11295 |
| Woll, Kellie A; Zhou, Xiaojuan; Bhanu, Natarajan V et al. (2018) Identification of binding sites contributing to volatile anesthetic effects on GABA type A receptors. FASEB J 32:4172-4189 |
| Kasimova, Marina A; Yazici, Aysenur Torun; Yudin, Yevgen et al. (2018) A hypothetical molecular mechanism for TRPV1 activation that invokes rotation of an S6 asparagine. J Gen Physiol 150:1554-1566 |
| Wang, Yali; Yang, Elaine; Wells, Marta M et al. (2018) Propofol inhibits the voltage-gated sodium channel NaChBac at multiple sites. J Gen Physiol 150:1317-1331 |
| Bensel, Brandon M; Guzik-Lendrum, Stephanie; Masucci, Erin M et al. (2017) Common general anesthetic propofol impairs kinesin processivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E4281-E4287 |
| Okuno, Toshiaki; Koutsogiannaki, Sophia; Ohba, Mai et al. (2017) Intravenous anesthetic propofol binds to 5-lipoxygenase and attenuates leukotriene B4 production. FASEB J 31:1584-1594 |
| Granata, Daniele; Ponzoni, Luca; Micheletti, Cristian et al. (2017) Patterns of coevolving amino acids unveil structural and dynamical domains. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E10612-E10621 |
| Carnevale, Vincenzo; Klein, Michael L (2017) Small molecule modulation of voltage gated sodium channels. Curr Opin Struct Biol 43:156-162 |
Showing the most recent 10 out of 86 publications
