Brief Communication abstract
Nature Neuroscience 10, 943 - 945 (2007)
Published online: 15 July 2007 | doi:10.1038/nn1940
A tarantula peptide against pain via ASIC1a channels and opioid mechanisms
Michel Mazzuca1,4, Catherine Heurteaux1,4, Abdelkrim Alloui2,4, Sylvie Diochot1, Anne Baron1, Nicolas Voilley1, Nicolas Blondeau1, Pierre Escoubas1, Agnès Gélot2, Anny Cupo1, Andreas Zimmer3, Anne M Zimmer3, Alain Eschalier2 & Michel Lazdunski1
Psalmotoxin 1, a peptide extracted from the South American tarantula Psalmopoeus cambridgei, has very potent analgesic properties against thermal, mechanical, chemical, inflammatory and neuropathic pain in rodents. It exerts its action by blocking acid-sensing ion channel 1a, and this blockade results in an activation of the endogenous enkephalin pathway. The analgesic properties of the peptide are suppressed by antagonists of the 
and 
-opioid receptors and are lost in Penk1-/- mice.
- Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Paul Hamel, Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, 660 Route des Lucioles 06560 Valbonne, France.
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité Mixte de Recherche 766, Faculté de Médecine, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
- University of Bonn, Department of Molecular Psychiatry, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany.
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Michel Lazdunski1 e-mail: ipmc@ipmc.cnrs.fr
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