Agatoxin (original) (raw)

Agatoxins are a class of chemically diverse polyamine and peptide toxins which are isolated from the venom of various spiders. Their mechanism of action includes blockade of glutamate-gated ion channels, voltage-gated sodium channels, or voltage-dependent calcium channels. Agatoxin is named after the funnel web spider (Agelenopsis aperta) which produces a venom containing several agatoxins. There are different agatoxins. The ω‎-agatoxins are approximately 100 amino acids in length and are antagonists of voltage-sensitive calcium channels and also block the release of neurotransmitters. For instance, the ω‎-agatoxin 1A is a selective blocker and will block L-type calcium channels whereas the ω‎-agatoxin 4B will inhibit voltage sensitive P-type calcium channels. The μ‎-agatoxins only act on