Apamin is an 18 amino acid peptide neurotoxin found in apitoxin (bee venom). Toxicity is caused by only a few amino acids, these are cysteine1, lysine4, arginine13, arginine14 and histidine18. These amino acids are involved in the binding of apamin to the Ca2+-activated K+ channel. Due to its specificity for SK channels, apamin is used as a drug in biomedical research to study the electrical properties of SK channels and their role in the afterhyperpolarizations occurring immediately following an action potential. Apamin is a polypeptide possessing an amino acid sequence of H-Cys-Asn-Cys-Lys-Ala-Pro-Glu-Thr-Ala-Leu-Cys-Ala-Arg-Arg-Cys-Gln-Gln-His-NH2 (with disulfide bonds between Cys1-Cys11 and Cys3-Cys15). Apamin is very rigid because of the two disulfide bridges and seven hydrogen bonds. Apamin is the smallest neurotoxin polypeptide known, and the only one that passes the blood-brain barrier.
-V703.gif)