Discovery of Novel Potent and Selective Agonists at the Melanocortin-3 Receptor.
Carotenuto, A., Merlino, F., Cai, M., Brancaccio, D., Yousif, A.M., Novellino, E., Hruby, V.J., Grieco, P.(2015) J Med Chem 58: 9773-9778
- PubMed: 26599352 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01285
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2N7N, 2N7O, 2N7T - PubMed Abstract: 
The melanocortin receptors 3 and 4 control energy homeostasis, food-intake behavior, and correlated pathophysiological conditions. The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) has been broadly investigated. In contrast, the knowledge related to physiological roles of the melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) is lacking because of the limited number of known MC3R selective ligands. Here, we report the design, synthesis, biological activity, conformational analysis, and docking with receptors of two potent and selective agonists at the human MC3 receptor.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Napoli Federico II , Via D. Montesano, 49, 80131, Naples, Italy.