Levamisole receptors: a second awakening

Levamisole and pyrantel are old (1965) but useful anthelmintics that selectively activate nematode acetylcholine ion channel receptors; they are used to treat roundworm infections in humans and animals. Interest in their actions has surged, giving rise to new knowledge and technical advances, includ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in parasitology 2012-07, Vol.28 (7), p.289-296
Main Authors: Martin, Richard J, Robertson, Alan P, Buxton, Samuel K, Beech, Robin N, Charvet, Claude L, Neveu, Cédric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acetylcholine
Animals
anthelmintic
Anthelmintics - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Caenorhabditis elegans - drug effects
Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics
Caenorhabditis elegans - metabolism
Calcium Signaling
Depsipeptides - pharmacology
Drug Resistance
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
General aspects
Genes, Helminth
Humans
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases
Ion Channel Gating
ion channel receptor
ion channels
Ion Channels - drug effects
Ion Channels - metabolism
ivermectin
levamisole
Levamisole - pharmacology
Life Sciences
Medical sciences
Microbiology and Parasitology
Models, Molecular
Nematoda
nematode
oocyte expression
Parasitic diseases
Parasitology
pyrantel
Pyrantel - pharmacology
receptors
Receptors, Cholinergic - drug effects
Receptors, Cholinergic - metabolism
resistance
Species Specificity
subtypes
Xenopus - genetics
Xenopus - metabolism
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Description
Summary:Levamisole and pyrantel are old (1965) but useful anthelmintics that selectively activate nematode acetylcholine ion channel receptors; they are used to treat roundworm infections in humans and animals. Interest in their actions has surged, giving rise to new knowledge and technical advances, including an ability to reconstitute receptors that reveal more details of modes of action/resistance. We now know that the receptors are plastic and may form diverse species-dependent subtypes of receptor with different sensitivities to individual cholinergic anthelmintics. Understanding the biology of the levamisole receptors is expected to inform other studies on anthelmintics (ivermectin and emodepside) that act on ion channels.
ISSN:1471-4922
1471-5007
DOI:10.1016/j.pt.2012.04.003