Lys49 myotoxin from the Brazilian lancehead pit viper elicits pain through regulated ATP release.

ABSTRACT: Pain-producing animal venoms contain evolutionarily honed toxins that can be exploited to study and manipulate somatosensory and nociceptive signaling pathways. From a functional screen, we have identified a secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2)-like protein, BomoTx, from the Brazilian lancehead pit viper (Bothrops moojeni). BomoTx is closely related to a group of Lys49 myotoxins that have been shown to promote ATP release from myotubes through an unknown mechanism. Here we show that BomoTx excites a cohort of sensory neurons via ATP release and consequent activation of P2X₂ and/or P2X₃ purinergic receptors. We provide pharmacological and electrophysiological evidence to support pannexin hemichannels as downstream mediators of toxin-evoked ATP release. At the behav

SUBMITTER: Zhang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5373363 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature