Drugs are used in clinics and hospitals on a daily basis. They can be used for many purposes such as controlling blood sugar level, sedation, elevating blood pressure, controlling pain, and many more. After witnessing a vicious cat of my friend becoming extremely nice and cuddly after being administered buprenorphine, I decided to explore the chemistry of the drug that changed her temper temporarily but drastically.

Painkillers are used often to control pain and reduce stress in small animal practice. They work by blocking pain at site of injury, in the spinal cord, or in the brain. Unlike morphine, which is a pure mu agonist, buprenorphine is a mu agonist –antagonist and kappa antagonist. It binds to mu receptors in the brain and activates some while deactivating some others. It also binds to and deactivates kappa receptors. Buprenorphine has very high affinity and low intrinsic activity at mu receptors, which means it does not bind to a large number of mu receptors, but when it does bind to a mu receptor, the force is so strong that other molecules are prevented from binding to that very receptor. This represents the fifth big idea of Atkins’s, “there are residual forces between molecules”.

Atkins’s first big idea, “matter is made of atoms”, is portrayed on the background of the artwork. The buprenorphine molecule consists of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms. The elements are portrayed on the periodic table of elements, which presents the second big idea of Atkins’s, “elements display periodicity”. On the periodic table, elements are in groups and periods. The atomic size increases from top to bottom and right to left whereas the ionization energy increases from bottom to top and left to right. Atkins’s third big idea states that chemical bonds form when electrons pair. The background shows that atoms form molecules by connecting with one another by chemical bonds that are formed when electrons pair.

Drug molecules need to be a certain shape in order to bind to receptors. In this artwork, I presented mu and kappa receptors as Greek letters μ and κ. The white μ and κ represent vacant receptors; the orange ones represent antagonists; the green ones portray the receptors deactivated by antagonists; the purple one represents an agonist, and the black one stands for a receptor activated by an agonist. As Atkins stated in his forth big idea, Molecular shape is a crucial feature in chemistry, mu agonists/ antagonists cannot bind to kappa receptors and vice versa. Mu agonists/ antagonists and kappa antagonists have different shapes that make them incompatible with each other, and it is the same case for kappa antagonists and mu receptors.

This artwork shows five of Atkins’s big idea in chemistry. Buprenorphine molecules are made up of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms connected to one another by chemical bonds. The elements display periodicity on the periodic table. Molecular shape is a crucial feature in chemistry as only the agonists/ antagonists of specific shape can bind to the specific receptors, and residual forces exist between the agonists/ antagonists and receptors that are bound together.

References

Drug Action. Merck Manual. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from

http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/drugs/drug_dynamics/drug_action.html

How do Painkillers Work? The Science Museum. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/whoami/findoutmore/yourbrain/howdodrugsaffectyourbrain/howdopainkillerswork.aspx

What is Buprenorphine? UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from

http://psychiatry.uams.edu/?id=10882&sid=3