MedUni Vienna researchers led by Christian Gruber from the Institute of Pharmacology, with international collaborators, have shown that it is possible to dimerize the human neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin without forfeiting much of their efficacy. The researchers were inspired by a naturally occurring locust neuropeptide in the form of a dimer of two vasopressin-like molecules. “By making structural changes to the composition and orientation of the dimers, we managed to modify their pharmacological activity to achieve selective inhibition or activation of the human vasopressin V1a receptor,” explains Christian Gruber from MedUni Vienna. Markus Muttenthaler from the University of Vienna adds: “Dimerization is a strategy that is often observed in Nature to optimize stability or mode of action. A good example of this is insulin, which is also a dimer of two different peptides.”
Click here for original story, Bioinspired strategies for the development of new drugs
Source: Phys.org