The Novel Advancement of An Opioid Antagonist Used to Treat Dissociation in DID
School Name
South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics
Grade Level
12th Grade
Presentation Topic
Biochemistry
Presentation Type
Mentored
Abstract
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a disorder caused by extreme trauma. When someone is young and goes through abuse, the brain of an individual that develops DID doesn’t know how to process the trauma, so it creates one or more identities to hold the traumatic memories. These identities alternate based on life experiences, stress, and trauma. DID and alternation of identities is often accompanied by dissociation and derealization. Activation of the Kappa opioid receptor (KOR) has been found to induce dissociation, and the KOR is implicated in dissociative disorders. KOR antagonists can thus be used to help with dissociative symptoms. JDTic is a long lasting opioid antagonist primarily for the KOR. Using the Schrodinger Maestro software, I docked this antagonist using the GLIDE ligand docking module. I was able to decrease the docking score of a JDTic derivative by 3.14 kcal/mol through removing repulsive interactions and increasing the hydrophilicity of certain regions of the molecule. Since this was only determined through computational methods, these modifications would need to be tested before use. If it passes the testing, hopefully JDTic will be used to help those with DID and other dissociation and derealization disorders.
Recommended Citation
McDavid, Trinity, "The Novel Advancement of An Opioid Antagonist Used to Treat Dissociation in DID" (2024). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 437.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2024/all/437
Location
RITA 363
Start Date
3-23-2024 9:45 AM
Presentation Format
Oral Only
Group Project
No
The Novel Advancement of An Opioid Antagonist Used to Treat Dissociation in DID
RITA 363
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a disorder caused by extreme trauma. When someone is young and goes through abuse, the brain of an individual that develops DID doesn’t know how to process the trauma, so it creates one or more identities to hold the traumatic memories. These identities alternate based on life experiences, stress, and trauma. DID and alternation of identities is often accompanied by dissociation and derealization. Activation of the Kappa opioid receptor (KOR) has been found to induce dissociation, and the KOR is implicated in dissociative disorders. KOR antagonists can thus be used to help with dissociative symptoms. JDTic is a long lasting opioid antagonist primarily for the KOR. Using the Schrodinger Maestro software, I docked this antagonist using the GLIDE ligand docking module. I was able to decrease the docking score of a JDTic derivative by 3.14 kcal/mol through removing repulsive interactions and increasing the hydrophilicity of certain regions of the molecule. Since this was only determined through computational methods, these modifications would need to be tested before use. If it passes the testing, hopefully JDTic will be used to help those with DID and other dissociation and derealization disorders.
