Newswise — New psychoactive substances, originally developed as potential analgesics but abandoned due to adverse side effects, may still have pharmaceutical value if researchers could nail down the causes of those side effects. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign used deep learning and large-scale computer simulations to identify structural differences in synthetic cannabinoid molecules that cause them to bind to human brain receptors differently from classical cannabinoids.
“The largest class of NPS are often sold as the street drugs Fubinaca, Chimica and Pinaca,” said chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Diwakar Shukla. “In addition to the adverse side effects, the formulas used to produce NPS vary, making them challenging to detect in standard…