Thesis (M.Sc.) - German University - Faculty of Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research - Department of Pharmaceulical Chemistry

Melatonin, the key regulator of the sleep/wake cycle, is a neurohormone secreted primarily from the pineal gland and mediates most of its various physiological functions via activation of two G-protein-coupled receptors,MI₁ and MI₂. The latter were recently reported for their ability to form homo-and heterodimers with distinct physiological functions, thus opening new perspectives for drug design and drug treatment. The most popular technique used to target dimeric GPCRs is the bivalent lignad approch. To the best of our knowledge bivalent melatonergic ligands have never been used to explore the dimerization of melatonin receptors