Compound Reverses Effects of Potentially Deadly Drugs

Drug overdoses in the United States have risen sharply in the last two decades. To identify a more universal treatment for drug overdose, a team of scientists tested a chemical compound as an antidote for methamphetamine and fentanyl. “There are a variety of non-opioid drugs of abuse that do not have a specific antidote,” says Lyle Isaacs  , a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMD.

Transcript

00:00:02 hello this is Lyle Isaacs my research group along with biological collaborators from the groups of professors Matthew resch and Volker brecon have developed a new molecular container compound known as pillar 6 Max Q pillar 6 Max Q is a macro cyclic supramolecular host which is capable of binding and sequestering suitable gas

00:00:25 molecules in water which Alters the physical chemical and even biological properties of gas molecules encapsulated therein the pillar 6 Max Q molecule contains six paraphernaline walls linked by six methylene groups which Define a hydrophobic cavity and 12 negatively charged sulfate substituents which create two symmetry equivalent anionic negatively charged rims

00:00:52 accordingly pillar 6 Max Q binds tightly to molecules that contain hydrophobic and cationic positively charged groups drugs of abuse are an important class of molecules that are hydrophobic cations we have studied the in vitro binding of pillar 6 Max Q to a panel of drugs of abuse for in Vivo studies we formulate pillar 6 Max Q in phosphate buffered safe

00:01:18 and administer it via jugular catheter to mice that it receives 0.5 gigs per gig methamphetamine five minutes earlier or 0.1 Megs per keg fentanyl 15 minutes earlier the movement of the animals was subsequently monitored by open field tests which show that pillar 6 Max Q greatly reduces The Locomotion count to levels that are statistically

00:01:43 indistinguishable from phosphate buffer controls and in the case of fentanyl from animals treated with naloxone killer 6 Max Q also binds tightly to phen cycladine mephedrone and methylene dioxymethamphetamine which suggests that pillar 6 Max Q has high potential as a broad spectrum agent combat drug overdose deaths