Researchers at UC Davis have developed a light driven technique that converts amino acids, the molecules that make up proteins, into compounds that behave similarly to psychedelics in the brain. These newly created molecules activate serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, which are associated with brain cell growth and are considered promising targets for treating conditions such as depression, PTSD, and substance-use disorder. Unlike traditional psychedelics, however, the compounds did not produce key hallucinogenic-like behaviors in animal testing.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
"The question that we were trying to answer was, 'Is there whole new class of drugs in this field that hasn't been discovered?" said study author Joseph Beckett, a Ph.D. student working with Professor Mark Mascal, UC Davis Department of Chemistry, and an affiliate of the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics (IPN). "The answer in the end was, 'Yes.'"
The work could lead to a more efficient and environmentally friendly approach for discovering serotonin-targeting drugs that provide some of the therapeutic effects linked to psychedelics without dramatically altering perception.
