Knowledge Bank

The current study focused on five FDA approved drugs that are prescribed to treat various neurological conditions. The drugs selected for the study include Memantine, Levodopa, Tetrabenazine, Gabapentin, Zolpidem. In silico docking methods were used to assign Ki values to the FDA approved drugs with the 10 different targets. The in silico study evaluated if these five drugs would bind to 10 targets that are not known to bind to the five drugs tested. The targets selected include 5HT5 receptor, 5HT4 receptor, α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, D4 receptor, monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B), GABAA, GABAB, and calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR). The results from the study concluded that all drugs in this study have an interaction with at least one of these 10 targets. These off-target interactions could be useful in discovering if they are the result of the drug's side effects, or if they are part of the drug's mechanism of action. The data from this study could also be useful for repurposing the drugs to treat other conditions. Further research needs to confirm if any of the significant interactions are real, and what type of change they cause in the body.