Effects of cobra cardiotoxins on intracellular calcium and the contracture of rat cardiomyocytes depend on their structural types
Scientists from the Department of Molecular Neuroimmune Signaling IBCh RAS together with colleagues from the Institute of Cell Biophysics and the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, studied the effect of cobra venom cardiotoxins on the intracellular concentration of calcium ions and the shape of rat cardiomyocytes (CaTx). Depending on the structure of the N-terminal or the central polypeptide loop, CaTx are classified into either group I and II or P- and S-types, respectively. It was shown that CaTxs of group I containing two adjacent proline residues in the N-terminal loop were less toxic to cardiomyocytes than group II toxins and CaTxs of S-type were less active than P-type ones. So, it was demonstrated that the CaTx toxicity to cardiomyocytes depends on the structures both of the N- terminal and central polypeptide loops. The paper was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Learn more
june 23, 2023