TY - JOUR
T1 - Quinacrine and Ethidium Bind to Different Loci on the Torpedo Acetylcholine Receptor
AU - Arias, Hugo R.
AU - Valenzuela, C. Fernando
AU - Johnson, David A.
PY - 1993/1/1
Y1 - 1993/1/1
N2 - Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to determine whether quinacrine and ethidium, two high-affinity noncompetitive inhibitors of the Torpedo acetylcholine receptor (AcChR), bind to the same loci. The ability of three nitroxide spin-labels, 5-doxylstearate (5-SAL), spin-labeled androstane (ASL), and TEMPO, to quench receptor-bound quinacrine and ethidium fluorescence was measured. When bound to a phencyclidine-displaceable site on the AcChR, quinacrine was 16.9 and 19 times more efficiently quenched than ethidium by the highly lipophilic 5-SAL and ASL, respectively. TEMPO, which has a limited ability to partition into Torpedo plasma membranes (<1%), was only twice as efficient at quenching receptor-bound quinacrine than ethidium fluorescence. The relative sensitivity of quinacrine and ethidium fluorescence to paramagnetic quenching was examined in three solvents, 1-butanol, sodium phosphate buffer, and acetonitrile, with TEMPO as a quencher. The results from the different solvents demonstrate that quinacrine fluorescence is intrinsically 1.4–3.6 times more sensitive than ethidium fluorescence to quenching by nitroxide spin-labels. Examination of the effect of high concentrations of 5-SAL on ethidium and quinacrine dissociation constants showed that quinacrine but not ethidium binding was competitively inhibited. Together, these results indicate that although quinacrine and ethidium bind in a mutually exclusive manner, the two inhibitors interact at different loci on the AcChR. Whereas the ethidium binding site is at a distance from membrane lipids, probably in or near the lumen, the quinacrine binding site appears to be at a lipid–protein interface in the transmembrane domain and at a distance from the lumen.
AB - Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to determine whether quinacrine and ethidium, two high-affinity noncompetitive inhibitors of the Torpedo acetylcholine receptor (AcChR), bind to the same loci. The ability of three nitroxide spin-labels, 5-doxylstearate (5-SAL), spin-labeled androstane (ASL), and TEMPO, to quench receptor-bound quinacrine and ethidium fluorescence was measured. When bound to a phencyclidine-displaceable site on the AcChR, quinacrine was 16.9 and 19 times more efficiently quenched than ethidium by the highly lipophilic 5-SAL and ASL, respectively. TEMPO, which has a limited ability to partition into Torpedo plasma membranes (<1%), was only twice as efficient at quenching receptor-bound quinacrine than ethidium fluorescence. The relative sensitivity of quinacrine and ethidium fluorescence to paramagnetic quenching was examined in three solvents, 1-butanol, sodium phosphate buffer, and acetonitrile, with TEMPO as a quencher. The results from the different solvents demonstrate that quinacrine fluorescence is intrinsically 1.4–3.6 times more sensitive than ethidium fluorescence to quenching by nitroxide spin-labels. Examination of the effect of high concentrations of 5-SAL on ethidium and quinacrine dissociation constants showed that quinacrine but not ethidium binding was competitively inhibited. Together, these results indicate that although quinacrine and ethidium bind in a mutually exclusive manner, the two inhibitors interact at different loci on the AcChR. Whereas the ethidium binding site is at a distance from membrane lipids, probably in or near the lumen, the quinacrine binding site appears to be at a lipid–protein interface in the transmembrane domain and at a distance from the lumen.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027230908&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/bi00075a017
DO - 10.1021/bi00075a017
M3 - Article
C2 - 8512934
AN - SCOPUS:0027230908
SN - 0006-2960
VL - 32
SP - 6237
EP - 6242
JO - Biochemistry
JF - Biochemistry
IS - 24
ER -