Researchers have advanced light-activated drug treatments, developing compounds that manage neuropathic pain effectively with minimal side effects, signaling a shift from traditional opioid therapies. Light can be harnessed to target drugs to specific body areas using photopharmacology. This technique modifies the drug’s chemical structure by incorporating a light-sensitive molecular switch, like azobenzene.
As a result, the drug becomes active only under exposure to certain light wavelengths, remaining inactive in the dark. Based on these principles, a team of researchers led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has developed photoswitchable derivatives of carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic drug widely used in medicine to combat some types of neuropathic pain, such as trigeminal neuralgia. These compounds, which have an analgesic effect when activated by light, are able to inhibit nerve signals locally and on demand.
The derivatives synthesized by the researchers are activated at wavelengths corresponding to the amber color, which allows them to pass through tissue and bone using conventional halogen lamps. Representative video clip of photocontrolled locomotion of zebrafish. Vehicle (black trace) treated animals show lower swimming activity and nearly absent photoresponses compared to intact ones.
Behavioral photoresponses elicited by Carbadiazocine are observed and statistically significant, with 420 nm light increasing locomotion and 500 nm light decrea.
