O-2050 is a drug that is a classical cannabinoid derivative, which acts as an

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...

for the CB₁

receptor Receptor may refer to: *Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a n ...

. This gives it an advantage in research over many commonly used cannabinoid antagonists, such as

rimonabant Rimonabant (also known as SR141716; trade names Acomplia, Zimulti) is an anorectic antiobesity drug that was first approved in Europe in 2006 but was withdrawn worldwide in 2008 due to serious psychiatric side effects; it was never approved in t ...

, which at higher doses act as

inverse agonist In pharmacology, an inverse agonist is a drug that binds to the same receptor as an agonist but induces a pharmacological response opposite to that of the agonist. A neutral antagonist has no activity in the absence of an agonist or inverse ago ...

s at CB₁ as well as showing off-target effects. However, while O-2050 acts as a silent antagonist ''in vitro'', some tests ''in vivo'' have suggested it may show agonist activity under certain circumstances.

References

Alkyne derivatives Benzochromenes Cannabinoids CB1 receptor antagonists Phenols Sulfonamides {{cannabinoid-stub

See also

References