Targeting the same key receptor that LSD activates.
Pills stock photo.Recent studies have already demonstrated that one or two high doses of psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA can have potent and long-term effects on anxiety and PTSD. However, it is unknown if the trip that comes with these psychedelics has a role in the treatment or if new treatments could be developed without these side effects.
"The receptors are like antennae. They pick up a chemical signal, and downstream a bunch of things get activated in a cell," said Brian Shoichet, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the UCSF School of Pharmacy.The initial goal of the research team was not to find molecules that might be used to create new medicines for depression.
Team members had recently solved the crystal structure of the 5HT2b receptor and used that structure to model the 5HT2a until the team worked out the crystal structure of 5HT2a. “The final molecules were 100 times more potent than what we started with,” Shoichet said, although they were still not nearly as strong as LSD. “In the animals, they are very potent, much more potent than Prozac.”
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