Adrenergic receptor impairing toxin

Receptor Adrenergic receptors (AR) (or adrenoceptors) are a class of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are targets of the catecholamines, especially norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenaline). They form three groups: α1-AR, α2-AR and β-AR.

α1-ARs, composed of the α1A-AR, α1B-AR and α1D-AR subtypes, control the tonicity of smooth muscles in the urinary tract area (α1A and α1D-AR) and in some cardiac blood vessels (α1B-AR).

There are three subtypes of α2-ARs: α2A-AR, α2B-AR and α2C-AR. They principally control intestinal motility and arterial blood pressure. In the central nervous system, α2-ARs play roles in jumpiness, panic attacks, sleep disorders, tremors and migraine. In addition, activation of central α2-ARs reduces pain.

Finally, the β-ARs are also composed of three subtypes (β1-AR, β2-AR and β3-AR). β1-AR plays a crucial role in the regulation of cardiac activities. β2-ARs are abundant in pulmonary cell types and airway smooth muscle cells. Several physiological roles for β3-ARs have been described, including their involvement in lipolysis and thermogenesis in adipose tissue, and regulation of smooth muscle tone in the human urinary bladder (Michel and Vrydag, 2006), colon and myometrium (Bardou et al., 2000).
Toxin
Receptor Toxins from different taxa that target adrenergic receptors.
Click on image to retrieve receptors and toxins of interest.
Human Snake Scorpion Cone
snail
Spider Cnidarian Insect Other All
α–1A adrenergic receptor ADRA1A image image - image - - - - image
α–1B adrenergic receptor ADRA1B image image - image - - - - image
α–1D adrenergic receptor ADRA1D image image - image - - - - image
α–2A adrenergic receptor ADRA2A image image - - - - - - image
α–2B adrenergic receptor ADRA2B image image - - - - - - image
α–2C adrenergic receptor ADRA2C image image - - - - - - image
β–1 adrenergic receptor ADRB1 image image - - - - - - image
β–2 adrenergic receptor ADRB2 image image image - - - - - image
β–3 adrenergic receptor ADRB3 image - - - - - - - -
Adrenergic receptor All image image image image - - - image image