A review of monoamine transporter-ligand interactions

Transporters of the monoamines serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are plasma membrane proteins belonging to the neurotransmitter sodium symporter family (NSS). Monoamine transporters (MATs) by facilitating reuptake of neurotransmitters from the synapse into the presynaptic nerve terminal, regulate neurotransmitter chemical signaling and maintain homeostasis. MATs are targets for several psychostimulants such as cocaine and amphetamine; and also for drugs treating several psychiatric disorders such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. Since, currently available treatment has several limitations and side effects, novel treatment is highly desired. Efforts to develop better treatment have been hampered by the lack of crystal structures for MATs. However, leucine transporter (LeuTAa), a bacterial protein from Aquifex aeolicus, belonging to the same NSS family as MATs has recently been crystallized. LeuTAa is used as a template to develop homology models of MATs, which facilitates understanding of the structure, function and pharmacology of MATs. Experimental methods for drug discovery demand a significant amount of time, effort and money. Efficient utilization of computational techniques hastens the process of drug discovery and also significantly reduces the cost. Assessing the binding affinity of drugs to the receptors is a key aspect of drug design. Free energy calculations compliment the experiment by quantitatively assessing the affinity of ligands to receptors. These methods are highly beneficial in the lead identification and optimization stages of rational drug design. We review the currently available free energy methods to treat protein-ligand interactions along with several free energy studies performed on MATs.