In the fast-paced modern life, depression has become an increasingly common mental illness. Treatment of depression by modifying the erasure of the hallucinogenic effects of "hallucinogens" and preserving their antidepressant effects – based on this novel drug development idea, scientists have successfully developed new rapid antidepressant compounds.
On January 28, Science magazine, an international authoritative academic journal, published relevant research papers cooperated by the Wang Sheng Research Group of the Center for Excellence in Molecular and Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Cheng Jianjun Research Group of the iHuman Research Institute of ShanghaiTech University, and distributed comments to give high praise.
On January 28, Wang Sheng, a researcher at the Center for Excellence in Molecular and Cell Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the latest scientific research results at a press conference. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong
According to researcher Wang Sheng, in recent years, scientific research has found that a variety of hallucinogens have great potential in the treatment of depression. For example, psilocybin, a class of natural hallucinogens extracted from hallucinogenic mushrooms, is currently used as a breakthrough therapy for the treatment of major depressive disorder and drug-resistant depression. The results of the phase II clinical study show that "psilocybin" can greatly improve the symptoms of depressed patients in one day, and the effect can last for more than three months.
However, the hallucinogenic side effects of hallucinogens also greatly limit their clinical research and widespread application. At present, scientists have been working on the search for and development of new antidepressants that are non-hallucinogenic and can act quickly.
Studies have found that the reason why "psilocybin" can be antidepressant is because it is metabolized into "dephosphate psilocybin" in the human body, which further binds to serotonin 2A receptors. Through structural analysis, Wang Sheng's research group further found that in addition to the classical binding mode of serotonin 2A receptor, there is another lipid-regulated binding mode of "psilocybin dephosphate".
The research team delved into the regulatory principles of the second binding mode and found that the serotonin 2A receptor has the activation efficiency of two downstream signaling pathways, which is closely related to the hallucinogenic effect of hallucinogens. Based on this finding, the researchers designed and synthesized a series of compounds in a targeted manner. Studies in mice have shown that the compounds have no hallucinogenic effects and have a rapid antidepressant effect.
Visualize depression and antidepressant renderings. (Courtesy of The Center for Excellence in Molecular and Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
At present, a new rapid antidepressant compound has been patented. Industry experts believe that the research results point out the direction for the development of a new generation of non-hallucinogenic, fast-acting antidepressants. However, it should be pointed out that compounds are not the same as drugs, and researchers still need to carry out a lot of experimental verification to make them drugs that benefit patients. (Reporter Zhang Jiansong)