Purmorphamine was the first small-molecule agonist developed for the protein

Smoothened Smoothened is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SMO gene. Smoothened is a Class Frizzled (Class F) G protein-coupled receptor that is a component of the hedgehog signaling pathway and is conserved from flies to humans. It is the molecula ...

, a key part of the

hedgehog signaling pathway The Hedgehog signaling pathway is a signaling pathway that transmits information to embryonic cells required for proper cell differentiation. Different parts of the embryo have different concentrations of hedgehog signaling proteins. The pathwa ...

, which is involved in bone growth, cardiovascular regeneration and brain development as well as having a number of other functions in the body. Purmorphamine has been shown to induce

osteogenesis Osteoblasts (from the Greek combining forms for "bone", ὀστέο-, ''osteo-'' and βλαστάνω, ''blastanō'' "germinate") are cells with a single nucleus that synthesize bone. However, in the process of bone formation, osteoblasts funct ...

in bone tissue as well as influencing growth and differentiation of neurons in the brain.

References

{{Reflist Receptor agonists