Massively parallel screening of the receptorome.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Psychoactive Drug Screening Program (PDSP) is a resource that provides free screening of novel compounds to academic investigators. This program differs from other public-sector screening programs in that compounds are screened against a large panel of transmembrane receptors, channels, and transporters, a selection that currently includes a large portion of the whole neuro-receptorome. This review discusses the research areas that can profit from this resource, exemplified by recent findings. The first area is the identification of side effects of medications. Examples include the identification of the histamine H(1) receptor as being responsible for weight gain under antipsychotic treatment and the association of 5 HT(2B) receptor agonism with cardiac valvulopathy, which led to the removal of several medications. A second area is the identification of mechanisms of actions of medications and natural products. Examples are the finding that the kappa opioid receptor is the pharmacological target of the potent hallucinogen salvinorin A, that ephedrine and related compounds are not acting through direct sympathomimetic action, the identification of a strong dopaminergic action of WAY 100635, a compound that had been used as a selective 5 HT(1A) antagonist, and the discovery that the metabolite desmethylclozapine activates M(1) muscarinic receptors, an activity that might contribute to the clinical efficacy of the antipsychotic drug clozapine. A third, relatively new area is the identification of inert compounds as agonists for engineered designer receptors that no longer respond to their natural ligand (DREADDs) but exhibit unchanged signaling properties.
Jensen
Niels H
NH
Department of Pharmacology School of Medicine and Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Medical School, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Roth
Bryan L
BL
D001835:Body Weight; D015195:Drug Design; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D006801:Humans; D009315:National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.); D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014481:United States
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations