Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy in Drug Discovery : Study of Alexa532-Endothelin 1 Binding to the Endothelin ETA Receptor to Describe the Pharmacological Profile of Natural Products

Abstract EN

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and the newly synthesized Alexa532-ET1 were used to study the dynamics of the endothelin ETA receptor-ligand complex alone and under the influence of a semisynthetic selective antagonist and a fungal extract on living A10 cells.

Dose-dependent increase of inositol phosphate production was seen for Alexa532-ET1, and its binding was reduced to 8% by the selective endothelin ETA antagonist BQ-123, confirming the specific binding of Alexa532-ET1 to the endothelin ETA receptor.

Two different lateral mobilities of the receptor-ligand complexes within the cell membrane were found allowing the discrimination of different states for this complex.

BQ-123 showed a strong binding affinity to the “inactive” receptor state characterized by the slow diffusion time constant.

A similar effect was observed for the fungal extract, which completely displaced Alexa532-ET1 from its binding to the “inactive” receptor state.

These findings suggest that both BQ-123 and the fungal extract act as inverse agonists.