The Impact of the Secondary Binding Pocket on the Pharmacology of Class A GPCRs.

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are considered important therapeutic targets due to their pathophysiological significance and pharmacological relevance. Class A receptors represent the largest group of GPCRs that gives the highest number of validated drug targets. Endogenous ligands bind to the orthosteric binding pocket (OBP) embedded in the intrahelical space of the receptor.

Novel potent (dihydro)benzofuranyl piperazines as human histamine receptor ligands - Functional characterization and modeling studies on H and H receptors.

Histamine acts through four different receptors (HR-HR), the HR and HR being the most explored in the last years as drug targets. The HR is a potential target to treat narcolepsy, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia and several other CNS-related conditions, while HR blockade leads to anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. Our group has been exploring the dihydrobenzofuranyl-piperazines (LINS01 series) as human HR/HR ligands as potential drug candidates.

Controlling receptor function from the extracellular vestibule of G-protein coupled receptors.

Receptor function is traditionally controlled from the orthosteric binding site of G-protein coupled receptors. Here, we show that the functional activity and signalling of human dopamine D2 and D3 receptor ligands can be fine-tuned from the extracellular secondary binding pocket (SBP) located far from the signalling interface suggesting optimization of the SBP binding part of bitopic ligands might be a useful strategy to develop GPCR ligands with designed functional and signalling profile.

A detailed mechanism of the oxidative half-reaction of d-amino acid oxidase: another route for flavin oxidation.

d-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) is a flavoenzyme whose inhibition is expected to have therapeutic potential in schizophrenia. DAAO catalyses hydride transfer from the substrate to the flavin in the reductive half-reaction, and the flavin is reoxidized by O2 in the oxidative half-reaction. Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical calculations were performed and their results together with available experimental information were used to elucidate the detailed mechanism of the oxidative half-reaction.

Binding kinetics of cariprazine and aripiprazole at the dopamine D receptor.

The dissociation behaviours of aripiprazole and cariprazine at the human D and D receptor are evaluated. A potential correlation between kinetics and in vivo profiles, especially cariprazine's action on negative symptoms in schizophrenia, is investigated. The binding kinetics of four ligands were indirectly evaluated.

Committor of elementary reactions on multistate systems.

In our study, we extend the committor concept on multi-minima systems, where more than one reaction may proceed, but the feasible data evaluation needs the projection onto partial reactions. The elementary reaction committor and the corresponding probability density of the reactive trajectories are defined and calculated on a three-hole two-dimensional model system explored by single-particle Langevin dynamics. We propose a method to visualize more elementary reaction committor functions or probability densities of reactive trajectories on a single plot that helps to identify the most important reaction channels and the nonreactive domains simultaneously.

Applicability evaluation of advanced processes for elimination of neurophysiological activity of antidepressant fluoxetine.

Presence of the antidepressant fluoxetine in different water bodies has raised significant concerns due to its detrimental effects on non-targeted organisms, especially on fish. When seeking for an appropriate technology able to remove fluoxetine residue from a complex water matrix, special attention needs to be paid to the elimination of the neurophysiological activity that eventually lies behind the noxious effects of the parent compound. Our aim was to probe the applicability of advanced oxidation techniques for this purpose using in situ generated free radical system based on OH-initiated peroxyl radical-mediated processes.