Preventing Morphine-Seeking Behavior through the Re-Engineering of Vincamine's Biological Activity.

ABSTRACT: Innovative discovery strategies are essential to address the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. Misuse of prescription and illegal opioids (e.g., morphine, heroin) has led to major problems with addiction and overdose. We used vincamine, an indole alkaloid, as a synthetic starting point for dramatic structural alterations of its complex, fused ring system to synthesize 80 diverse compounds with intricate molecular architectures. A select series of vincamine-derived compounds were screened for both agonistic and antagonistic activities against a panel of 168 G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drug targets. Although vincamine was without an effect, the novel compound 4 (V2a) demonstrated antagonistic activities against hypocretin (orexin) receptor 2. When advanced to

SUBMITTER: Norwood VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7324933 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature