Drug Discovery

Nitric oxide (NO) has various important biological functions, including activation of the soluble guanylate cyclase, which leads to vascular dilation and the inhibition of platelet aggregation. Examples of medicines which target a NO molecule are nitroglycerin and sildenafil (Viagra).

NO is also known to function as a neurotransmitter to be involved in learning and memory process, so attracts attention as a target for the treatment of epilepsia and Alzheimer disease.
In our lab, we are developing NO donors with novel scaffolds. Our research goal is the discovery of the NO donors which release NO in control of time, amount and place. One of the NO donor molecules we are now focused on is furoxan, which has a unique molecular structure as shown below.