The University of Arizona

Henry I. Yamamura

Regents Professor of Pharmacology, Psychiatry, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Ph.D., University of Washington (Seattle)

Molecular neuropharmacology.

Research Interests

Opioid receptors (delta, mu, and kappa) are all involved in the production of analgesia. Dr. Yamamura has played an important role in the development of drugs that act at the delta opioid receptors. Delta opioid drugs should relieve pain and produce minimal side effects as respiratory depression, tolerance, and dependence. Dr. Yamamura has recently cloned and expressed the human delta opioid receptors to study the mechanism of opioid tolerance and dependence.

Select Publications

Any link on the below references will take you off of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.

Yue, X., E.V. Varga, D. Stropova, T.W. Vanderah, H.I. Yamamura, and W.R. Roeske. 2006 Chronic morphine-mediated adenylyl cyclase superactivation is attenuated by the Raf-1 inhibitor, GW5074. European Journal of Pharmacology 540: 57-59.

Smith, E.A., J.W. Coym, S.M. Cowell, T. Tokimoto, V.J. Hruby, H.I. Yamamura, and M.J. Wirth. 2005. Lipid bilayers on polyacrylamide brushes for inclusion of membrane proteins. Langmuir 21: 9644-9650.

Navratilova, E., M.C. Eaton, D. Stropova, E.V. Varga, T.W. Vanderah, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura. 2005. Morphine promotes phosphorylation of the human delta-opioid receptor at serine 363. European Journal of Pharmacology 519: 212-214.

Handl, H.L., J. Vagner, H.I. Yamamura, V.J. Hruby, and R.J. Gillies. 2005. Development of a lanthanide-based assay for detection of receptor-ligand interactions at the delta-opioid receptor. Analytical Biochemistry 343: 299-307.

Dhanasekaran, M., M.M. Palian, I. Alves, L. Yeomans, C.M. Keyari, P. Davis, E.J. Bilsky, R.D. Egleton, H.I. Yamamura, N.E. Jacobsen, G. Tollin, V.J. Hruby, F. Porreca, and R. Polt.  2005. Glycopeptides related to beta-endorphin adopt helical amphipathic conformations in the presence of lipid bilayers. Journal of the American Chemical Society 127: 5435-5448.

Varga, E.V., K. Hosohata, D. Borys, E. Navratilova, A. Nylen, T.W. Vanderah, F. Porreca, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura HI. 2005. Antinociception depends on the presence of G protein gamma2-subunits in brain. European Journal of Pharmacology 508: 93-98.

Gu, X., J. Ying, B. Min, J.P. Cain, P. Davis, P. Willey, E. Navratilova, H.I. Yamamura, F. Porreca, and V.J. Hruby VJ. 2005. Parallel synthesis and biological evaluation of different sizes of bicyclo[2,3]-Leu-enkephalin analogues. Biopolymers 80: 151-163.

Varga, E.V., E. Navratilova, D. Stropova, J. Jambrosic, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura. 2004. Agonist-specific regulation of the delta-opioid receptor. Life Sciences 76: 599-612.

Gu, X., J. Ying, R.S. Agnes, E. Navratilova, P. Davis, G. Stahl, F. Porreca, H.I. Yamamura, and V.J. Hruby. 2004. Novel design of bicyclic beta-turn dipeptides on solid-phase supports and synthesis of [3.3.0]-Bicyclo([2,3])-leu-enkephalin analogues. Organic Letters 6: 3285-3288.

Alves, I.D., K.A. Ciano, V. Boguslavski, E. Varga, Z. Salamon, H.I. Yamamura, V.J. Hruby, and G. Tollin. 2004. Selectivity, cooperativity, and reciprocity in the interactions between the delta-opioid receptor, its ligands, and G-proteins. Journal of Biological Chemistry 279: 44673-44682. Erratum in: Journal of Biological Chemistry 280: 40384.

Handl, H.L., J. Vagner, H.I. Yamamura, V.J. Hruby, and R.J. Gillies RJ. 2004. Lanthanide-based time-resolved fluorescence of in cyto ligand-receptor interactions. Analytical Biochemistry 330: 242-250.

Cai, M., M. Stankova, S.J. Pond, A.V. Mayorov, J.W. Perry, H.I. Yamamura, D. Trivedi D, and V.J. Hruby. 2004. Real time differentiation of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) agonist and antagonist by two photon fluorescence laser microscopy. Journal of the American Chemical Society 126: 7160-7161.

Navratilova, E., E.V. Varga, D. Stropova, J.C. Jambrosic, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura. 2004. Mutation S363A in the human delta-opioid receptor selectively reduces down-regulation by a peptide agonist. European Journal of Pharmacology 485: 341-343.

Varga, E.V., H.I. Yamamura, M.K. Rubenzik, D. Stropova, E. Navratilova, and W.R. Roeske. 2003. Molecular mechanisms of excitatory signaling upon chronic opioid agonist treatment. Life Sciences 74: 299-311.

Alves, I.D., Z. Salamon, E. Varga, H.I. Yamamura, G. Tollin, and V.J. Hruby. Direct observation of G-protein binding to the human delta-opioid receptor using plasmon-waveguide resonance spectroscopy. Journal of Biological Chemistry 278: 48890-48897. Erratum in: Journal of Biological Chemistry 280: 43280.

Varga, E.V., M.K. Rubenzik, D. Stropova, M. Sugiyama, V. Grife, V.J. Hruby, K.C. Rice, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura. 2003. Converging protein kinase pathways mediate adenylyl cyclase superactivation upon chronic delta-opioid agonist treatment. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 306: 109-115.

Hosohata, K., E.V. Varga, J. Alfaro-Lopez, X. Tang, T.W. Vanderah, F. Porreca, V.J. Hruby, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura HI. 2003. (2S,3R)beta-methyl-2',6'-dimethyltyrosine-L-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid [(2S,3R)TMT-L-Tic-OH] is a potent, selective delta-opioid receptor antagonist in mouse brain. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 304: 683-688.

Okura, T., E.V. Varga, Y. Hosohata, E. Navratilova, S.M. Cowell, K. Rice, H. Nagase, V.J. Hruby, W.R. Roeske, and H.I. Yamamura. 2003. Agonist-specific down-regulation of the human delta-opioid receptor. European Journal of Pharmacology 459: 9-16.

Contact Information

    Mailing:
    Henry I. Yamamura, Regents Professor
    Department of Pharmacology
    University of Arizona
    Arizona Health Sciences Center 5122
    P.O. Box 245050
    Tucson AZ 85724-5050

    Web Site: Home Page

    Telephone:
    520-626-7381 (Office)
    520-621-6741 (Lab)

    Fax:
    520-626-2204

    Email:
    hiy@email.arizona.edu

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