Journal article
Computational Models of Neuronal Biophysics and the Characterization of Potential Neuropharmacological Targets
Current medicinal chemistry, Vol.15(24), pp.2456-2471
10/01/2008
DOI: 10.2174/092986708785909094
PMCID: PMC3560392
PMID: 18855673
Abstract
The identification and characterization of potential pharmacological targets in neurology and psychiatry is a fundamental problem at the intersection between medicinal chemistry and the neurosciences. Exciting new techniques in proteomics and genomics have fostered rapid progress, opening numerous questions as to the functional consequences of ligand binding at the systems level. Psycho- and neuro-active drugs typically work in nerve cells by affecting one or more aspects of electrophysiological activity. Thus, an integrated understanding of neuropharmacological agents requires bridging the gap between their molecular mechanisms and the biophysical determinants of neuronal function. Computational neuroscience and bioinformatics can play a major role in this functional connection. Robust quantitative models exist describing all major active membrane properties under endogenous and exogenous chemical control. These include voltage-dependent ionic channels (sodium, potassium, calcium, etc.), synaptic receptor channels (e. g. glutamatergic, GABAergic, cholinergic), and G protein coupled signaling pathways (protein kinases, phosphatases, and other enzymatic cascades). This brief review of neuro-molecular medicine from the computational perspective provides compelling examples of how simulations can elucidate, explain, and predict the effect of chemical agonists, antagonists, and modulators in the nervous system.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Computational Models of Neuronal Biophysics and the Characterization of Potential Neuropharmacological Targets
- Creators
- Michele Ferrante - George Mason UniversityKim T. Blackwell - George Mason UniversityMichele Migliore - CNR, Inst Biophys, Palermo, ItalyGiorgio A. Ascoli - George Mason University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Current medicinal chemistry, Vol.15(24), pp.2456-2471
- DOI
- 10.2174/092986708785909094
- PMID
- 18855673
- PMCID
- PMC3560392
- NLM abbreviation
- Curr Med Chem
- ISSN
- 0929-8673
- eISSN
- 1875-533X
- Publisher
- Bentham Science Publ Ltd
- Number of pages
- 16
- Grant note
- AG025633 / NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) HFSP; Human Frontier Science Program R01AG025633 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) 747864 / SGER NS396000 / NINDS; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) NIA; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) R01AA018060 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) R01NS039600 / NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2008
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984446555902771
Metrics
1 Record Views