Morphing of Ibogaine: A Successful Attempt into the Search for Sigma-2 Receptor Ligands.
International journal of molecular sciences January 23, 2019 Giuseppe Floresta, Maria Dichiara, Davide Gentile et al. 16 citations
Ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid, binds strongly to the sigma-2 receptor, which is implicated in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse, and pain. Because ibogaine's serious side effects prevent clinical use, researchers sought ibogaine derivatives with better sigma-2 receptor affinity. They performed a deconstruction of ibogaine's tricyclic moiety and scaffold-hopping of its indole part, using a 3D-QSAR model to predict sigma-2 receptor binding affinities and molecular docking on a homology-modeled sigma-2 receptor to validate top candidates. Pinoline, a carboline derivative, was tested in a radioligand binding assay and showed predicted high micromolar affinity and good selectivity. These results may guide design of simplified ibogaine analogs with improved sigma-2 receptor binding.