Katherine Zhao
Research Mentor(s): Jessica Anand
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Pharmacology
Presentation Date: 08/03/2022
Presentation Type: Oral presentation
Poster Number:
Session: Session II: 1:30 – 2:20pm
Room: Vandenberg
Authors: Katherine Zhao, Jessica P. Anand
Abstract
Overdose deaths in the United States involving opioids increased to 75,673 in 2021, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl identified as a primary cause of death. However, it is not clear why fentanyl is driving this increase in deaths. Both fentanyl and morphine are mu opioid receptor agonists and they have similar actions in vitro. But in the “real world,” fentanyl and morphine behave very differently: a lethal dose of morphine (670 mg/kg) is about 11 times greater than the lethal dose of fentanyl (62 mg/kg). In order to simplify assay environments, in vitro studies do not always match the conditions of the human body. For example, the human body contains many salts—such as sodium, magnesium, and calcium—that are not traditionally accounted for in in vitro models. However, salts have been shown to strongly influence drug-activity relationships. The focus of this project is to test several clinically relevant opioids in different salt conditions that better match the body’s internal environment. I will characterize these drugs using the competition binding assay to identify how different salt concentrations influence opioid binding affinity. With these data, it is possible to design better in vitro models to test opioids. These data may also reveal differences between fentanyl and morphine that explain why fentanyl is so deadly.
