Geoffrey N. Woodruff

Gabapentin (1-(aminomethyl)cyclohexane acetic acid; Neurontin) is a novel anticonvulsant drug, with a mechanism of action apparently dissimilar to that of other antiepileptic agents. We report here the isolation and characterization of a [3H]gabapentin-binding protein from pig cerebral cortex membranes. The detergent-solubilized binding protein was purified 1022-fold, in a six-step column-chromatographic procedure, with a yield of 3.9%. The purified protein had an apparent subunit Mr of 130,000, and was heavily glycosylated. The partial N-terminal amino acid sequence of the Mr 130,000 polypeptide, EPFPSAVTIK, was identical to that reported for the alpha2delta subunit of the L-type Ca2+ channel from rabbit skeletal muscle (Hamilton, S. L., Hawkes, M. J., Brush, K., Cook, R., Chang, R. J., and Smilowitz, H. M. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 7820-7828). High levels of [3H]gabapentin binding sites were found in membranes prepared from rat brain, heart and skeletal muscle. Binding of [3H]gabapentin to COS-7 cells transfected with alpha2delta cDNA was elevated >10-fold over controls, consistent with the expression of alpha2 delta protein, as measured by Western blotting. Finally, purified L-type Ca2+ channel complexes were fractionated, under dissociating conditions, on an ion-exchange column; [3H]gabapentin binding activity closely followed the elution of the alpha2 delta subunit. [3H]Gabapentin is the first pharmacological agent described that interacts with an alpha2delta subunit of a voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel.

The potent noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist [3H]MK-801 bound with nanomolar affinity to rat brain membranes in a reversible, saturable, and stereospecific manner. The affinity of [3H]MK-801 was considerably higher in 5 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4) than in previous studies using Krebs-Henseleit buffer. [3H]MK-801 labels a homogeneous population of sites in rat cerebral cortical membranes with KD of 6.3 nM and Bmax of 2.37 pmol/mg of protein. This binding was unevenly distributed among brain regions, with hippocampus greater than cortex greater than olfactory bulb = striatum greater than medulla-pons, and the cerebellum failing to show significant binding. Detailed pharmacological characterization indicated [3H]MK-801 binding to a site which was competitively and potently inhibited by known noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists, such as phencyclidine, thienylcyclohexylpiperidine (TCP), ketamine, N-allylnormetazocine (SKF 10,047), cyclazocine, and etoxadrol, a specificity similar to sites labelled by [3H]TCP. These sites were distinct from the high-affinity sites labelled by the sigma receptor ligand (+)-[3H]SKF 10,047. [3H]MK-801 binding was allosterically modulated by the endogenous NMDA receptor antagonist Mg2+ and by other active divalent cations. These data suggest that [3H]MK-801 labels a high-affinity site on the NMDA receptor channel complex, distinct from the NMDA recognition site, which is responsible for the blocking action of MK-801 and other noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists.