Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
June 22, 2026
Qianru Jiang, Jianming Han, Eve Fine et al.
Ketamine offers rapid relief for treatment-resistant depression and severe pain in the clinic, providing immediate benefits that traditional medications often fail to deliver. While its antagonistic action at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a key mechanism, ketamine's dual nature as both a promising treatment and a drug with abuse potential suggests its therapeutic effects extend...
Nature Communications
September 20, 2024
Václav Havel, Andrew C Kruegel, Benjamin Bechand et al.
18 citations
Ibogaine and its main metabolite noribogaine provide important molecular prototypes for markedly different treatment of substance use disorders and co-morbid mental health illnesses. However, these compounds present a cardiac safety risk and a highly complex molecular mechanism. We introduce a class of iboga alkaloids - termed oxa-iboga - defined as benzofuran-containing iboga analogs and...
Nature
May 1, 2023
Jianming Han, Jingying Zhang, Antonina L. Nazarova et al.
79 citations
The κ-opioid receptor (KOR) represents a highly desirable therapeutic target for treating not only pain but also addiction and affective disorders1. However, the development of KOR analgesics has been hindered by the associated hallucinogenic side effects2. The initiation of KOR signalling requires the Gi/o-family proteins including the conventional (Gi1, Gi2, Gi3, GoA and GoB) and...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
July 23, 2021
Václav Havel, Andrew C Kruegel, Benjamin Bechand et al.
3 citations
preprint
Abstract Substance use and related mental health epidemics are causing increasing suffering and death in diverse communities. 1,2 Despite extensive efforts focused on developing pharmacotherapies for treating substance use disorders, there is an urgent need for radically different therapeutic approaches. 3,4 Ibogaine provides an important drug prototype in this direction, as a psychoactive...