Atropine: Difference between revisions

Atropine is part of the tropane group alkaloid family, which includes other substances such as cocaine. Atropine binds to acetylcholine receptors, blocking the action of acetylcholine and therefore suppressing the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system<ref> Atropine. New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Atropine </ref>. The protein structure of acetycholine receptor can be seen on the right. Although there is not a PDB ID for atropine in complex with the acetylcholine receptor, it is important to understand the structure of the acetylcholine receptor, and subsequently, how atropine and other alkaloids interact with it. One can see that each color in the current model represents a portion of the complex protien, which contains five domains. The <scene name='Sandbox_53/Achr_hydrophobicity/1'>hydrophobic</scene> regions can then be displayed in gray, while the hydrophillic regions appear purple. This shows a transmembrane alpha-helix region in the center of the molecule, a large hydrophillic complex on the exoplasmic face of the protein, and another hydrophillic region on the cystolic face of the protein.