Locating the route of entry and binding sites of benzocaine and phenytoin in a bacterial voltage gated sodium channel.

ABSTRACT: Sodium channel blockers are used to control electrical excitability in cells as a treatment for epileptic seizures and cardiac arrhythmia, and to provide short term control of pain. Development of the next generation of drugs that can selectively target one of the nine types of voltage-gated sodium channel expressed in the body requires a much better understanding of how current channel blockers work. Here we make use of the recently determined crystal structure of the bacterial voltage gated sodium channel NavAb in molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate the position at which the sodium channel blocking drugs benzocaine and phenytoin bind to the protein as well as to understand how these drugs find their way into resting channels. We show that both drugs have two likely binding sites

SUBMITTER: Martin LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4084639 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature