Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Jahnstr. 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
The Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2019 Aug;57:23-30. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2019.01.022. Epub 2019 Feb 28.
Chemical and electrical signaling at the synapse is a dynamic process that is crucial to neurotransmission and pathology. Traditional pharmacotherapy has found countless applications in both academic labs and the clinic; however, diffusible drugs lack spatial and temporal precision when employed in heterogeneous tissues such as the brain. In the field of photopharmacology, chemical attachment of a synthetic photoswitch to a bioactive ligand allows cellular signaling to be controlled with light. Azobenzenes have remained the go-to photoswitch for biological applications due to their tunable photophysical properties, and can be leveraged to achieve reversible optical control of numerous receptors and ion channels. Here, we discuss the most recent advances in photopharmacology which will improve the use of azobenzene-based probes for neuroscience applications.
在突触处的化学和电信号是一个动态过程，对神经传递和病理学至关重要。传统的药物疗法在学术实验室和临床中都有无数的应用；然而，在像大脑这样的异质组织中使用可扩散药物时，缺乏空间和时间的精确性。在光药理学领域，将合成光开关化学连接到生物活性配体上，使得可以用光来控制细胞信号。由于其可调谐的光物理性质，偶氮苯仍然是生物应用的首选光开关，并且可以利用它们来实现对许多受体和离子通道的可逆光学控制。在这里，我们讨论了光药理学的最新进展，这些进展将改善基于偶氮苯的探针在神经科学应用中的使用。
