Direct blockade of both cloned rat rod photoreceptor cyclic nucleotide-gated non-selective cation (CNG) channel alpha-subunit and native CNG channels from Xenopus rod outer segments by H-8, a non-specific cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinase inhibitor

The pharmacology of cyclic nucleotide-gated channels: emerging from the darkness

Cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) ion channels play a central role in vision and olfaction, generating the electrical responses to light in photoreceptors and to odorants in olfactory receptors. These channels have been detected in many other tissues where their functions are largely unclear. The use of gene knockouts and other methods have yielded some information, but there is a pressing need for potent and specific pharmacological agents directed at CNG channels. To date there has been very little systematic effort in this direction - most of what can be termed CNG channel pharmacology arose from testing reagents known to target protein kinases or other ion channels, or by accident when researchers were investigating other intracellular pathways that may regulate the activity of CNG channels. Predictably, these studies have not produced selective agents. However, taking advantage of emerging structural information and the increasing knowledge of the biophysical properties of these channels, some promising compounds and strategies have begun to emerge. In this review we discuss progress on two fronts, cyclic nucleotide analogs as both activators and competitive inhibitors, and inhibitors that target the pore or gating machinery of the channel. We also discuss the potential of these compounds for treating certain forms of retinal degeneration.

International Union of Pharmacology. XLII. Compendium of voltage-gated ion channels: cyclic nucleotide-modulated channels

This summary article presents an overview of the molecular relationships among the voltage-gated cyclic nucleotide-modulated channels and a standard nomenclature for them, which is derived from the IUPHAR Compendium of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels. The complete Compendium, including data tables for each member of the cyclic nucleotide-modulated channel family can be found at http://www.iuphar-db.org/iuphar-ic/.

Cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels

Cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels are nonselective cation channels first identified in retinal photoreceptors and olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). They are opened by the direct binding of cyclic nucleotides, cAMP and cGMP. Although their activity shows very little voltage dependence, CNG channels belong to the superfamily of voltage-gated ion channels. Like their cousins the voltage-gated K+ channels, CNG channels form heterotetrameric complexes consisting of two or three different types of subunits. Six different genes encoding CNG channels, four A subunits (A1 to A4) and two B subunits (B1 and B3), give rise to three different channels in rod and cone photoreceptors and in OSNs. Important functional features of these channels, i.e., ligand sensitivity and selectivity, ion permeation, and gating, are determined by the subunit composition of the respective channel complex. The function of CNG channels has been firmly established in retinal photoreceptors and in OSNs. Studies on their presence in other sensory and nonsensory cells have produced mixed results, and their purported roles in neuronal pathfinding or synaptic plasticity are not as well understood as their role in sensory neurons. Similarly, the function of invertebrate homologs found in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, and Limulus is largely unknown, except for two subunits of C. elegans that play a role in chemosensation. CNG channels are nonselective cation channels that do not discriminate well between alkali ions and even pass divalent cations, in particular Ca2+. Ca2+ entry through CNG channels is important for both excitation and adaptation of sensory cells. CNG channel activity is modulated by Ca2+/calmodulin and by phosphorylation. Other factors may also be involved in channel regulation. Mutations in CNG channel genes give rise to retinal degeneration and color blindness. In particular, mutations in the A and B subunits of the CNG channel expressed in human cones cause various forms of complete and incomplete achromatopsia.

Molecular and pharmacological analysis of cyclic nucleotide-gated channel function in the central nervous system

Most functional studies of cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels have been confined to photoreceptors and olfactory epithelium, in which CNG channels are abundant and easy to study. The widespread distribution of CNG channels in tissues throughout the body has only recently been recognized and the functions of this channel family in many of these tissues remain largely unknown. The molecular biological and pharmacological properties of the CNG channel family are summarized in order to put in context studies aimed at probing CNG channel functions in these tissues using pharmacological and genetic methods. Compounds have now been identified that are useful in distinguishing CNG channel activated pathways from cAMP/cGMP dependent-protein kinases or other pathways. The ways in which these interact with CNG channels are understood and this knowledge is leading to the identification of more potent and more specific CNG channel subtype-specific agonists or antagonists. Recent molecular and genetic analyses have identified novel roles of CNG channels in neuronal development and plasticity in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Targeting CNG channels via specific drugs and genetic manipulation (such as knockout mice) will permit better understanding of the role of CNG channels in both basic and higher orders of brain function.

Impaired cerebellar long-term potentiation in type I adenylyl cyclase mutant mice

Activation of adenylyl cyclase and the consequent production of cAMP is a process that has been shown to be central to invertebrate model systems of information storage. In the vertebrate brain, it has been suggested that a presynaptic cascade involving Ca influx, cAMP production, and subsequent activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase is necessary for induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) at the cerebellar parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse. We have used mutant mice in which the major Ca-sensitive adenylyl cyclase isoform of cerebellar cortex (type I) is deleted to show that this results in an approximately 65% reduction in cerebellar Ca-sensitive cyclase activity and a nearly complete blockade of cerebellar LTP assessed using granule cell-Purkinje cell pairs in culture. This blockade is not accompanied by alterations in a number of basal electrophysiological parameters and may be bypassed by application of an exogenous cAMP analog, suggesting that it results specifically from deletion of the type I adenylyl cyclase.

Substituted cGMP analogs can act as selective agonists of the rod photoreceptor cGMP-gated cation channel

Cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels are expressed in many cell types in both the nervous system and nonexcitable tissues. In order to understand the roles of cGMP-gated channels, and to distinguish actions of cGMP mediated through CNG channels from those through cGMP-dependent protein kinase (G-kinase), several new cGMP analogs were tested for potency as CNG channel agonists. Using Xenopus oocytes expressing the rat rod cGMP-gated ion channel alpha-subunit, we showed that an analog containing a pCPT group at the 8-position, 8-pCPT-cGMP, was 80 times more potent than cGMP and 14 times more potent than 8-Br-cGMP. 8-pCPT-cGMP is the most potent CNG channel agonist so far described and also has the advantages of much better membrane permeability as well as much higher resistance to PDE-hydrolysis, as compared with 8-Br-cGMP. Modification of both 8-Br-cGMP and 8-pCPT-cGMP by introduction of a sulphur atom into the cyclic phosphate group gave smaller changes in agonist efficiency. Both Sp-8-Br-cGMPS and Sp-8-pCPT-cGMPS acted as agonists of CNG channels and are also G-kinase activators. In contrast, Rp-8-Br-cGMPS was a channel agonist, with an EC50 of 173.5 microM, but a G-kinase antagonist with a Ki of 4 microM. Finally, Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS was a channel agonist and showed additional noncompetitive antagonist activity at higher concentrations. The results suggest that 8-pCPT-cGMPS is a highly potent photoreceptor CNG channel agonist with high membrane permeability and PDE-resistance and furthermore Rp-8-Br-cGMPS can be used to test whether the actions of cGMP are selectively mediated by CNG channels.