Zebrafish mutant model reveals novel drug candidates for ADHD
Reykjavik – 3Z. ADHD is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. The first-line therapeutic for ADHD, methylphenidate, is beneficial for only a subset of patients and can cause side effects including weight loss, insomnia and hypertension. Therefore, the development of non-stimulant based therapeutics is of high importance. In a study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology 3Z scientists and collaborators used a uniquely powerful genetic model and unbiased drug screen to identify novel ADHD non-stimulant therapeutics. First, it was shown that when the human ADHD risk gene Latrophilin 3 was knocked-out in zebrafish, they showed a robust hyperactive behavior, consistent with ADHD. Second, it was shown that this hyperactivity can be rescued with common on-the-market ADHD therapeutics. Finally, following a large chemical screen, five novel potential therapeutics were identified. The candidates have already entered further tests. In summary, 3Z introduced a genetic model of ADHD in zebrafish and identified five novel putative therapeutics. The findings offer a novel tool for understanding ADHD, suggest a novel mechanism for its etiology and identify novel candidate therapeutics.
The study can be read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-022-01505-z
3Z´s CEO Karl Karlsson has a PhD in behavioral neuroscience and is a professor in Biomedical Engineering at Reykjavik University. Karl was extensively involved in sleep research before merging the neuroscientific and engineering skillsets to high-throughput in vivo drug screening.
Discussing the significance of the findings Karl stated:
“We are extremely pleased to publish these latest data. For us it represents a stepping stone towards developing much needed therapeutics for the market, and an important validation of our screening platform - that can be used for multiple neuropsychiatric disorders“
To find out more, please visit www.3z.is or follow on Linkedin.
Karl Ægir Karlsson
karlsson@3z.is
+3548256467
3Z is a drug discovery company that has developed a unique zebrafish screening platform. The company develops human disease models in zebrafish using genetic and pharmacologic means and utilizes novel approaches to data science for classifying and contrasting disease models and drug effects in high-throughput. The focus is squarely on central nervous system diseases where meaningful models require in vivo endpoint measures.
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