The Chemical Nature of the Receptor Site: A Study in the Stereochemistry of Synaptic Mechanisms

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the possible role of RNA in excitable membrane. It also discusses prostaglandin-ribonucleoprotein complex, specification of the cholinergic receptor, specification of the catecholamine receptors, specification of the serotonin receptors, amino acid transmitters, miscellaneous compounds, some stereochemical relations between membrane-active drugs and antibiotics, and RNA and the sodium pump mechanism. Structure-activity relationship studies of drugs active at receptor sites can describe something about the possible nature of the molecular configuration that could accept such molecules. The present status of the amino acid transmitters is that glycine is thought to be the inhibitory transmitter in the cord and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has a similar function while glutamate and aspartate may have excitatory actions. Many other membrane active amino acids are known, but their precise function in vivo is uncertain. Veratridine would not act on ionic channels controlled by the catecholamines, as in these the initial state of the RNA is in the fully contracted configuration. However, the main classes of chemicals known to act upon nucleic acids are the antibiotics and antitumor agents.