Sodium May Be Key Regulator for Drugs Used to Treat Some Brain Diseases

Findings published in a recent study conducted by scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and The Scripps Research Institute show how sodium acts as a regulator for drugs used to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and depression. The results of the study allow for potential new therapies for a variety of diseases along fewer side effects. Currently, many approved drugs such as  morphine and oxycodone target opioid receptors, which use a variety of pathways to transmit chemical signals in the brain. However, none of them modulates just one pathway in the brain — a likely reason why opioid medications are associated with abuse and addiction. With the use of a new technique that allowed scientists to create the first-ever high-resolution 3-D crystal structure of the delta-opioid receptor, their findings suggest that it is possible to create a drug that targets specific pathways inside that receptor based on the location of sodium found there, which could allow for an improved class of drugs. To read more about this study, click here.