Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies

About: Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies is a nonprofit organization based out in San Diego, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Antigen & T cell. The organization has 2323 authors who have published 2217 publications receiving 112618 citations.

The use of bifunctional NOP/mu and NOP receptor selective compounds for the treatment of pain, drug abuse, and psychiatric disorders.

Abstract: The NOP receptor, the fourth receptor in the opioid receptor family, is found throughout the brain and is involved in a variety of CNS systems and pathways. The endogenous ligand for NOP receptors, nociceptin/orphanin FQ (now called N/OFQ), was originally thought to increase a painful stimulus since intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of this heptadecapeptide led to a decrease in tail-flick and hot-plate latency in mice. Further studies suggested that N/OFQ blocks opiate analgesia when administered i.c.v. but potentiates opiate analgesia and has antinociceptive activity when administered intrathecally. I.c.v. administration of N/OFQ has other beneficial actions including inhibition of reward induced by several different abused drugs, as well as anti-anxiety activity. Recent work has demonstrated that individual small molecules that activate both NOP and mu receptors possess mu-mediated antinociceptive activity with reduced reward, as determined by conditioned place preference tests. Furthermore, selective NOP receptor agonists appear to be active in certain chronic pain models and reduce both drug craving and anxiety. NOP receptor antagonists may also have therapeutic benefits since both peptide and small molecule antagonists have anti-depressant activity in two different animal models. Therefore, both selective NOP receptor compounds and non-selective compounds, with both NOP receptor and mu opioid receptor activity, appear to have potential for clinical use for several neurological and psychiatric disorders including acute and chronic pain, drug abuse, anxiety and depression.

A study of possible “reef effects” caused by a long-term time-lapse camera in the deep North Pacific

Abstract: The aggregation response of fish populations following the addition of artificial structures to seafloor habitats has been well documented in shallow-water reefs and at deeper structures such as oil extraction platforms. A long-term time-lapse camera was deployed for 27 four-month deployment periods at 4100 m in the eastern North Pacific to study abyssal megafauna activity and surface–benthos connections. The unique time-series data set provided by this research presented an opportunity to examine how deep-sea benthopelagic fish and epibenthic megafauna populations were affected by an isolated artificial structure and whether animal surveys at this site were biased by aggregation behavior. Counts were taken of benthopelagic grenadiers, Coryphaenoides spp., observed per week as well as numbers of the epibenthic echinoid Echinocrepis rostrata . No significant correlation ( r s =−0.39; p =0.11) was found between the duration of deployment (in weeks) and the average number of Coryphaenoides observed at the site. There was also no evidence of associative behavior around the time-lapse camera by E. rostrata ( r s =−0.32; p =0.19). The results of our study suggest that abyssal fish and epibenthic megafauna do not aggregate around artificial structures and that long-term time-lapse camera studies should not be impacted by aggregation response behaviors.

n-docosanol: broad spectrum anti-viral activity against lipid-enveloped viruses.

Abstract: Earlier work of others demonstrated the existence of virucidal activity of medium length (10-12 carbons) saturated alcohols; such activity was complicated by coexisting toxicity, and appeared to be lost as chain length increased up to 18 carbons or longer.' Recently, we re-examined alcohol compounds for activity against various viruses, specifically focusing on higher chain lengths with the aim of identifying potential broad spectrum anti-viral activity among such compounds. This work confirmed that saturated alcohols of 18 carbons or longer, like the 22carbon compound n-docosanol, exhibit very potent anti-viral activity both in vitro and in ~ivo.'-' n-Docosanol is derived from hydrogenation of fatty acid mixtures extracted from various plant sources or fossil fuels, yielding corresponding fatty alcohol mixtures from which n-docosanol can be purified by fractional vacuum distillation. The purified compound is highly lipophilic and extremely insoluble, prompting conventional wisdom to dictate that this molecule and others like it should be biologically inert. Our previous and those presented herein document that conventional wisdom is absolutely wrong in this case. Thus, appropriately formulated n-docosanol exhibits broad-spectrum anti-viral activity with apparent specificity for lipid-enveloped viruses including, among others, types 1 and 2 herpes simplex and respiratory syncytial murine and human cytomegalovirus, and certain retroviruses (unpublished), but no activity against the non-enveloped poliovirus. Importantly, unlike alcohols of 20 carbons or less, which exhibit