Are interactions with phospholipids responsible for pharmacological activities of cardiotoxins?

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Abstract
Cardiotoxins are small basic proteins (7 000 daltons) that are found in the venoms of Elapidae snakes. Although they are structurally close to a-neurotoxins present in the same secretions, their activity is related to their ability to interact with every cell membrane inducing, near micromolar concentration, the modification of its biological properties and/or physical structure. The mode of action of cardiotoxins, on a molecular level, is still under investigation. However, lipid-protein interactions are more and more involved in their binding to membrane and in their activities. Using new experimental data a better definition of phospholipid cardiotoxin interaction is arrived at and a tentative molecular explanation of the pharmacological activities of these proteins is presented and discussed.

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