There is a vital need for novel approaches and biological targets for drug discovery and development. Treatment strategies for substance use disorders (SUDs) to date have been mostly ineffective other than substitution-like therapeutics. Two such targets are the peptide G-protein-coupled receptors neuropeptide S (NPS) and melanocortin 4 (MC4). Preclinical evidence suggests that antagonists, inverse agonists, or negative allosteric modulators of these receptors might be novel therapeutics for SUDs. NPS is a relatively unexplored receptor with high potential for treating SUD. MC4 has a strong link to early-onset obesity, and emerging evidence suggests significant overlap between food-maintained and drug-maintained behaviors making MC4 an intriguing target for SUD. This chapter provides an overview of the literature in relation to the roles of NPS and MC4 in drug-seeking behaviors and then provides a medicinal chemistry-based survey of the small molecule ligands for each receptor.
CITATION STYLE
Blough, B., & Namjoshi, O. (2020). Small molecule neuropeptide s and melanocortin 4 receptor ligands as potential treatments for substance use disorders. In Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology (Vol. 258, pp. 61–87). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/164_2019_313
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