Persistent occultation of the vesamicol receptor

By binding to a specific receptor, the drug vesamicol [(-)-trans-2-(4-phenylpiperidino)cyclohexanol] noncompetitively inhibits acetylcholine active transport into synaptic vesicles. An analog [(+/-)-trans-5-amino-2-hydroxy-3-(4-phenylpiperidino) tetralin] of vesamicol has been discovered that causes time- (t1/2 = 2.6 min) and temperature-dependent loss of vesamicol binding that is only slowly reversible (t1/2 for recovery = 5.4 h). Assuming a simple two step process of ligand binding followed by a conformational change, an apparent dissociation constant of 4 x 10(-11) M can be calculated. Other analogs of the vesamicol family of drugs also display similar high-affinity binding to the receptor in a manner which resembles the time dependent effects of reserpine binding to chromaffin granules.