Identification by cross-linking of a neuronal acceptor protein for dendrotoxin, a convulsant polypeptide.

Dendrotoxin, a lijow molecular weight protein from the venom of Dendroaspis angusticeps, is known to be a potent convulsant that attenuates one type of voltage-sensitive K+ channel in guinea-pig hippocampus. A biologically active preparation of 125I-labelled dendrotoxin has been cross-linked to its high-affinity protein acceptor in synaptic plasma membranes from rat cerebral cortex. On SDS gel electrophoresis, a complex with a Mr of 72,000 was observed which, assuming one toxin molecule is attached, yields an apparent size of 65,000 for this subunit of the acceptor. Unlike dendrotoxin, low concentrations of beta-bungarotoxin, another pre-synaptically active toxin, do not inhibit its labelling.