The serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter (SERT) protein plays a central role in terminating 5-HT neurotransmission and is the most important therapeutic target for the treatment of major depression and anxiety disorders. We report an innovative, versatile, and target-selective quantum dot (QD) labeling approach for SERT in single Xenopus oocytes that can be adopted as a drug-screening platform. Our labeling approach employs a custom-made, QD-tagged indoleamine derivative ligand, IDT318, that is structurally similar to 5-HT and accesses the primary binding site with enhanced human SERT selectivity. Incubating QD-labeled oocytes with paroxetine (Paxil), a high-affinity SERT-specific inhibitor, showed a concentration- and time-dependent decrease in QD fluorescence, demonstrating the utility of our approach for the identification of SERT modulators. Furthermore, with the development of ligands aimed at other pharmacologically relevant targets, our approach may potentially form the basis for a multitarget drug discovery platform.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja204301g | DOI Listing |
JAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Laboratory of NeuroImaging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland.
Importance: Cannabis use has increased globally, but its effects on brain function are not fully known, highlighting the need to better determine recent and long-term brain activation outcomes of cannabis use.
Objective: To examine the association of lifetime history of heavy cannabis use and recent cannabis use with brain activation across a range of brain functions in a large sample of young adults in the US.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used data (2017 release) from the Human Connectome Project (collected between August 2012 and 2015).
Drugs
January 2025
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, 1699 SW 16th Ave, Building A, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA.
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is characterized by the progressive, autoimmune-mediated destruction of β cells. As such, restoring immunoregulation early in the disease course is sought to retain endogenous insulin production. Nevertheless, in the more than 100 years since the discovery of insulin, treatment of T1DM has focused primarily on hormone replacement and glucose monitoring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Nucl Med
January 2025
Department of Radiological Sciences, School of Health Science, Fukushima Medical University, 10-6 Sakae, Fukushima City, Fukushima, 960-8516, Japan.
Objective: This study aims to accurately classify ATN profiles using highly specific amyloid and tau PET ligands and MRI in patients with cognitive impairment and suspected Alzheimer's disease (AD). It also aims to explore the relationship between quantified amyloid and tau deposition and cognitive function.
Methods: Twenty-seven patients (15 women and 12 men; age range: 64-81 years) were included in this study.
Biochemistry
January 2025
Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
C-terminal amidation of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a frequent minor modification used to improve antibacterial potency, commonly ascribed to increased positive charge, protection from proteases, and a stabilized secondary structure. Although the activity of AMPs is primarily associated with the ability to penetrate bacterial membranes, hitherto the effect of amidation on this interaction has not been understood in detail. Here, we show that amidation of the scorpion-derived membranolytic peptide AamAP1-Lys produces a potent analog with faster bactericidal activity, increased membrane permeabilization, and greater Gram-negative membrane penetration associated with greater conformational flexibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Pharm (Weinheim)
January 2025
Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
In the last few years, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been the cause of a worldwide pandemic, highlighting the need for novel antiviral agents. The main protease (M) of SARS-CoV-2 was immediately identified as a crucial enzyme for viral replication and has been validated as a drug target. Here, we present the design and synthesis of peptidomimetic M covalent inhibitors characterized by quinoline-based P moieties.
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