Pharmacological receptors: a century of discovery--and more

Advances in receptor chromatography for drug discovery and drug-receptor interaction studies

Receptor chromatography involves high-throughput separation and accurate drug screening based on specific drug-receptor recognition and affinity, which has been widely used to screen active compounds in complex samples. This review summarizes the immobilization methods for receptors from three aspects: random covalent immobilization methods, site-specific covalent immobilization methods and dual-target receptor chromatography. Meanwhile, it focuses on its applications from three angles: screening active compounds in natural products, in natural-product-derived DNA-encoded compound libraries and drug-receptor interactions. This review provides new insights for the design and application of receptor chromatography, high-throughput and accurate drug screening, drug-receptor interactions and more. Teaser: This review summarizes the immobilization methods of receptors and the application of receptor chromatography, which will provide new insights for the design and application of receptor chromatography, rapid drug screening, drug-receptor interactions and more.

The Camerino symposium series (1978-2013): a privileged observatory of receptorology development

The organizers of the Camerino Receptor Symposia survey the development of receptorology. They trace the course from the first Symposium in 1978, which laid the foundation for Pirenzepine, the first selective muscarinic antagonist, to the 2010 Symposium, which highlighted the utility of functional simple domain antibodies (nanobodies) as novel G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) modulators. This 30-year period sees the acceptance of terms such as G-protein, auto- and heteroreceptors, site-directed mutagenesis, chimeric receptors, constitutive activity, inverse agonism, and orphan receptors. GPCRs are finally a reality and Langley and Ehrlich, if they returned to their laboratories, would be proud of how their intuitions have been realized.

Pharmacological tools for the development of traditional Chinese medicine

Pharmacology as a modern science was introduced in China approximately 150 years ago, and has been used since then to study traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Pharmacology has experienced its own development over this time and continues to provide new tools for the study of TCM. In the present review, three models for the pharmacological study of TCM are considered: (i) chemistry-focused study; (ii) target-directed study; and (iii) systems-biology-based study. These approaches correspond to recent developments in pharmacology, and in particular to new tools available to the field. Representative achievements and the pharmacological tools used to study TCM are reviewed. Pharmacology has played, and will continue to play, an indispensable role in elucidating the chemical basis, biological targets, and mechanisms of action of TCM medicines, and in developing a scientific basis for the theory of TCM.

The biochemistry and physiology of metallic fluoride: action, mechanism, and implications

Fluoride is a well-known G protein activator. Activation of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins by fluoride requires trace amounts of Al3+ or Be2+ ions. AlFx mimics a gamma-phosphate at its transition state in a Galpha protein and is therefore able to inhibit its GTPase activity. AlFx also forms complexes with small GTP-binding proteins in the presence of their GTPase-activating proteins (GAP). As phosphate analogs, AlFx or BeFx affect the activity of a variety of phosphoryl transfer enzymes. Most of these enzymes are fundamentally important in cell signal transduction or energy metabolism. Al3+ and F- tend to form stable complexes in aqueous solution. The exact structure and concentration of AlFx depend on the pH and the amount of F- and Al3+ in the solution. Humans are exposed to both F and Al. It is possible that Al-F complexes may be formed in vivo, or formed in vitro prior to their intake by humans. Al-F complexes may play physiological or pathological roles in bone biology, fluorosis, neurotoxicity, and oral diseases such as dental caries and periodontal disease. The aim of this review is to discuss the basic chemical, biochemical, and toxicological properties of metallic fluoride, to explore its potential physiological and clinical implications.

Ligand-receptor interaction at the neural nicotinic acetylcholine binding site: a theoretical model

Recent mutagenesis experiments have identified some of the functional amino acids that are essential in the interaction of nicotinic agents with the binding site of the neural nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Although this receptor is one of the best studied and characterized the lack of detailed experimental information regarding its quaternary structure has turned it into a challenge for computational chemistry. We have previously reported [J. Comput. Aided Mol. Design 13 (1999) 57-68] a computational protocol based on molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics (MD) where SER82, ASP83, TRP86, ASP89, TYR93, TYR190, TYR198 and ARG209 were placed around selected agonists and antagonists aided by stereoelectronic criteria. Explicit water molecules were used with the double goal of simulating aqueous environment and keeping the system from falling apart. The protocol was stable enough to allow the ligands to evolve to their thermodynamically most probable structure while maintaining the key interactions. In this communication we use the average model for the agonists (one average structure for each agonist) to calculate quantum mechanically the interactions of the binding site with one neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh, 1), as well as with two of the most potent agonists described so far [nicotine (2) and epibatidine (3)] and the modeled binding site. A wide variety of methods as well as basis sets were used in order to rationalise the best way to treat the problem. In this limited set of compounds, a good correlation between total interaction energies and biological affinity is observed.

Chemical genomics: massively parallel technologies for rapid lead identification and target validation

Chemical genomics is a new research paradigm with importantapplications in drug discovery. It links genomic targets withsmall-molecule chemistries thereby allowing for efficient targetvalidation and lead compound identification. ACADIA'schemical-genomics platform consists of a large and diverse small-moleculelibrary (800,000), a reference drug library (2,000), druggablegenomic targets (>300) and a cell-based functional assaytechnology (R-SAT(TM); Receptor Selection and AmplificationTechnology) that allows for ultra-high throughput screening(>500,000 data points/week) as well as high throughputpharmacology and profiling over a wide range of targets. Twoexamples are presented that illustrate the success of ourchemical-genomics approach: (i) The validation of inverse agonismat serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptors as an antipsychotic mechanismand the subsequent discovery of potent and selectively acting 5-HT(2A) inverse agonists, currently in preclinical development,and (ii) the discovery of the first ectopically binding subtype-selective muscarinic m1 agonist.