American Chemical Society, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 9(137), p. 3209-3212, 2015
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b00244
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Covalently attached peptide dendrimers can enhance binding affinity and functional activity. Homogenous di- and tetravalent dendrimers incorporating the α7-nicotinic receptor blocker α-conotoxin ImI (α-ImI) with polyethylene glycol spac-ers were designed and synthesized via a copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAc) of az-ide-modified α-ImI to an alkyne-modified polylysine dendron. NMR and CD structural analysis confirmed that each α-ImI moiety in the dendrimers had the same 3D structure as native α-ImI. The binding of the α-ImI dendrimers to binding protein Ac-AChBP was measured by surface plasmon resonance and revealed enhanced affinity. Quantitative electrophysi-ology showed that α-ImI dendrimers had ~100-fold enhanced potency at hα7 nAChRs (IC50 = 4 nM) compared to native α-ImI (IC50 = 440 nM). In con-trast, no significant potency enhancement was ob-served at heteromeric hα3β2 and hα9α10 nAChRs. These findings indicate that multimeric ligands can significantly enhance conotoxin potency and selec-tivity at homomeric nicotinic ion channels.