Ion Channels as Therapeutic Target: Drug Design and Pharmacological Investigation (3rd Edition)
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 1203
Special Issue Editor
Interests: heterocyclic nitrogen compounds; pyrazolo condensed compounds; synthesis; gabaa receptor subtype; human neutrophil elastase inhibitors; medicinal chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue “Ion Channels as Therapeutic Target: Drug Design and Pharmacological Investigation”.
The targeting of ion channels represents a strategy for the treatment of several pathologies since they are responsible for ion fluxes across membranes and contribute to maintaining cellular functions in central and peripheral tissues. The ion channels include two principal types of membrane proteins:
- Ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs), opened by neurotransmitters or ligands that bind the orthosteric or allosteric sites involved in the overall fast synaptic transmission in the nervous system;
- Voltage-gated ion channels, opened or closed by a change in the electrical gradient across the membrane.
Ion channels are very intriguing targets, and the development of new techniques elucidating the structures of these channels (e.g., cryo-EM) contributes to the design of new potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and pain.
This Special Issue, titled “Ion Channels as Therapeutic Target: Drug Design and Pharmacological Investigation”, aims to collect contributions related to the drug design, molecular modeling, pharmacological investigation, and therapeutic applications of ion channel ligands.
Dr. Gabriella Guerrini
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- LGIC
- voltage-gated ion channel
- other ion channels
- biological studies
- molecular modeling
- drug design
- synthesis
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