Antibody voltage-dependent channels

An alternative approach is to use antibody fragments (the Fab domian) raised against a particular protein. This technique has been used with some success for crystallizing a number of membrane proteins, including the CIC chloride channel (Dutzler et al., 2002), a K+ voltage-dependent channel (Jiang et al., 2003), and a cytochrome c oxidase (Iwata et al., 1995). 

The reconstitution of voltage-dependent channels from nerve and muscle in planar bilayers will very likely be an early accomplishment of the eighties, and this will enable us to begin to test the ideas of channel structure and function developed from the study of channel-forming antibodies in the seventies. 

Muniz, Z.M., Pracej, D.N., and Dolly, J.O., 1992, Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies against Voltage-Dependent Channels Raised Using a-Dendrotoxin Acceptors Purified from Bovine Brain, In Biochemistry, 31, 12297-12303. 

All brevetoxins can be detected by immunological techniques, including RIA as well as immunofluores-cent tests and immunoabsorbant assays. The specific binding of brevetoxins and ciguatoxins at a particular site of the voltage-dependent sodium channel can be exploited and these receptors can be used in simple and effective receptor-based assays very much like antibody tests. The receptor assay works in membrane preparations, in microtiter plates, and in solubilized form, and can be done with tissue extracts or biological fluids as toxin source. The system should be also approachable by affinity techniques,... 

---