# Target Specificity of Tabernanthalog Treatment in Opioid Use Disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2022 · $1,416,538

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is characterized by persistent drug seeking often accompanied by a loss of interest
in natural rewards. Current FDA-approved treatments for OUD target the endogenous opioid system directly,
either as substitution therapies (e.g. buprenorphine, methadone) or antagonists that oppose opioid effects (e.g.
naltrexone, naloxone). Although these therapies have helped reduce overall harm, they are rarely a cure for
OUD. As the seat of executive function, the PFC plays an integral role in decision-making, impulse control, and
the cognitive regulation of drug craving and relapse. Thus, novel compounds capable of promoting neural
plasticity to augment or restore PFC function possess enormous therapeutic potential for treating substance use
disorders (SUDs). Structural plasticity in the PFC could produce long-lasting protective effects against relapse,
and would reduce the need for chronic medication. Plasticity-promoting, psychoplastogenic compounds may
also have broad-spread restorative effects on downstream neural circuits, and may normalize aberrant plasticity
and neural activity across addiction networks. Psychedelic compounds including 5-methoxy-N,N-
dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and ibogaine potently induce spine growth in the PFC in a serotonin 5-HT2A
receptor-dependent manner. This class of drugs also elicits long-lasting anti-addictive properties across a wide
variety of SUDs, but their side effects including hallucinations and cardiotoxicity limit their therapeutic potential.
To overcome these barriers to therapeutic application, we engineered a safer psychoplastogenic 5-HT2A
receptor ligand called tabernanthalog (TBG), which chemically resembles ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT, yet lacks
hallucinogenic effects and cardiotoxicity and does not bind to opioid receptors. We demonstrated that TBG
decreases both alcohol and heroin consumption and reduces relapse rates long-term in a heroin self-
administration model after a single treatment. However, the pharmacological and brain-specific mechanisms that
mediate these anti-addictive effects are currently unknown. The overarching objectives of this project are to
determine the in vivo receptor targets mediating the anti-addictive effects of TBG, and whether TBG’s
psychoplastogenic effects within addiction neural circuitry is a mechanism of action for TBG therapy. Establishing
the anti-addictive mechanism of TBG will aid continued drug discovery of more potent and selective compounds
for treating addiction and may help identify patient populations that are likely to respond to treatment. In addition
to identifying the role of serotonin receptors and structural plasticity in the effect of TBG, this proposal will also
screen the therapeutic potential of TBG in a polydrug (opioid and alcohol) use model and determine the specificity
of TBG therapy for opioids versus natural rewards. Information gained from this project will provide insight into
TBG’s potential as an anti-OUD...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10892601
- **Project number:** 7R01DA056660-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Jasper Heinsbroek
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,416,538
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10892601

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10892601, Target Specificity of Tabernanthalog Treatment in Opioid Use Disorder (7R01DA056660-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10892601. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*