- 作者: C.C. Chang
- 作者服務機構: Professor Emeritus, Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, National taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- 中文摘要: --
- 英文摘要: This review is a personal narration by a retiring pharma-cologist from Taiwan who looks back at his discovery ofα-bungarotoxin from the historical perspective of Taiwanduring the last 50 years, with accounts of his experiencesand his efforts to overcome hardship. How the α-toxinwas isolated and characterized as an irreversible specificnicotinic acetylcholine (ACh)receptor antagonist, andhow it subsequently became a useful experimentalprobe are presented here. The dilemma of differentiatingthe actions of tubocurarine and a-bungarotoxin is ana-lyzed. The author also outlines findings based on workdone in his laboratory using a-bungarotoxin as a tool onparticular aspects of synaptic-transmission. These in-clude presynaptic receptor for positive feedback of trans-mitter release, explosive release of ACh, up- and down-regulation of ACh receptors after chronic drug treatment,autodesensitization of junctional ACh receptors, differ-ences in action between natural transmitter and exoge-nous agonists and that between junctional and extra-junctional ACh receptors. Some experimental pitfalls, inwhich biomedical scientists are frequently trapped, areraised. Finally, some anecdotes are appended fromwhich the reader may further understand scientific life inthe 20th century, including its joys and regrets.
- 中文關鍵字: --
- 英文關鍵字: a-Bungarotoxin. Bungarotoxin. Nicotinic acetylchollne receptors. Autodesensitization. Up-and downregulation. Acetlcholine, explosive release. Wedensky inhibition. Endplate potential run-down. Tubocurarine. Succinylcholine. Neostigmine