ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

About: ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a company organization based out in San Diego, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Pimavanserin & Receptor. The organization has 260 authors who have published 276 publications receiving 8418 citations.

Population admixture modulates risk for alcohol dependence.

Abstract: The admixture of different ancestral populations in America may have important implications for the risk for psychiatric disorders, as it appears to have for other medical disorders. The present study investigated the role of population admixture in risk for several psychiatric disorders in European-Americans (EAs) and African-Americans (AAs). This is a multisite study with 3,792 subjects recruited from across the United States, including 3,119 EAs and 673 AAs. These subjects included healthy controls and those with substance dependence (SD) [including alcohol dependence (AD), cocaine dependence, and opioid dependence], social phobia, affective disorders, and schizophrenia. In addition, DNA was included from 78 West Africans. The degree of admixture for each subject was estimated by analysis of a set of ancestry-informative genetic markers using the program STRUCTURE, and was compared between cases and controls. As noted previously, the degree of admixture in AAs was higher than EAs. In EAs, the degree of admixture (with African ancestry) was significantly lower in patients with SD (mainly AD) than controls (P = 0.009 for SD; P = 0.008 for AD). This finding suggests that population admixture may modulate risk for alcohol dependence. Population admixture might protect against alcohol dependence by increasing average heterozygosity and reducing the risk of deleterious recessive alleles. We cannot exclude the possibility that the results might have been influenced by selection bias due to the multisite nature of the study.

Compounds with activity at estrogen receptors

Abstract: Disclosed herein are novel di-phenyl compounds and methods for using various di-phenyl compounds for treatment and prevention of diseases and disorders related to estrogen receptors.

Neuroactive steroids attenuate cocaine-induced sucrose intake in rats, but not cocaine-induced hyperactivity in mice.

Abstract: Rationale: Neuroactive steroids, including the potent anticonvulsants ganaxolone (3α-hydroxy-3β-methyl-5α-pregnan-20-one) and Co 2-1068 (3β-(4acetylphenyl)ethynyl-3α,21-dihydroxy-5β-20-one-21-hemisuccinate), have recently been shown to protect against cocaine-induced seizures. Objectives: The purpose of the present experiments was to determine whether ganaxolone and Co 2-1068 attenuate acute behavioral effects of cocaine unrelated to seizures. Methods: In the first experiment, the locomotor effects of Co 2-1068 (10–100 mg/ kg), pentobarbital (10–100 mg/kg) and haloperidol (0.03–0.3 mg/kg), alone or in combination with cocaine (5.6–30 mg/kg), were determined in mice. In the second experiment, the effects on sucrose intake of ganaxolone (4–16 mg/kg), Co 2-1068 (8–64 mg/kg), pentobarbital (4–32 mg/kg), and haloperidol (0.04–0.4 mg/kg), alone or in combination with cocaine (4–16 mg/kg), were determined in rats. Results: Cocaine caused a dose-related increase in locomotor activity in mice, whereas Co 2-1068, pentobarbital and haloperidol caused dose-related decreases. The dopamine antagonist haloperidol, at a dose that had no effect on activity by itself, but not Co 2-1068 or pentobarbital, attenuated the cocaine-induced increase in locomotor activity. Cocaine, ganaxolone, Co 2-1068, and haloperidol produced dose-related decreases in sucrose intake in rats; the effects of pentobarbital on sucrose intake were variable. As with locomotor effects, haloperidol attenuated the cocaine-induced decrease in sucrose intake. In addition, cocaine-induced decreases in sucrose intake were attenuated by ganaxolone and Co 2-1068. Pentobarbital had no statistically significant effect on the cocaine dose-response function. Conclusions: These results suggest that the interaction of neuroactive steroids with cocaine extends to pharmacologic actions beyond anticonvulsant efficacy, but that the blockade of behavioral effects of cocaine by neuroactive steroids does not apply to all acute behaviors.

Compounds for the treatment of pain and screening methods therefor

Abstract: Disclosed herein are benzoimidazole compounds; pharmaceutical compositions comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the same; methods of modulating the activity of an MrgX1 or an MrgX2 receptor using the same; and methods of alleviating acute, chronic and neuropathic pain in a subject using the same. Also disclosed are methods of identifying a benzoimidazole compound that modulates the activity of an MrgX1 or an MrgX2 receptor; methods of identifying a benzoimidazole compound effective for the treatment of pain.