Berlin 2012 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Posters: Proteins
BP 7.39: Poster
Montag, 26. März 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Structural properties of Salvinorin A, an entheogenic substance which may become a psychotherapeutic compound — •Davoud Pouladsaz1, Azadeh Ebrahimi2, and Hermann Schluesener2 — 1Department of Biological Physics, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2Department of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Salvinorin A is the main active psychotropic compound in Salvia divinorum, a Mexican plant which has a long history of use as an entheogen by indigenous Mazatec shamans in Oaxaca and has gained popularity as a recreational hallucinogen for the inhalation of its pyrolyzed smoke. The potent psychotropic effects of Salvinorin A, unlike many other hallucinogenic compounds that are mediated by the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, are exerted through the activation of κ-Opioid receptors which are widely distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems and in other tissues. The basic mechanisms behind these effects are particularly remarkable, because Salvinorin A is a non-nitrogenous κ-Opioid receptor agonist. Since the structural properties of Salvinorin A play an important role in ligand affinity and selectivity of κ-Opioid receptor, we use molecular docking techniques to identify and study the active sites of the κ-Opioid receptor in interaction with Salvinorin A. The results may improve our understanding of how novel compounds for treatment of perceptual distortions may be derived from Salvinorin A.