Description
Clozapine-N-oxide is a ligand that activates engineered GPCRs called “receptors activated solely by synthetic ligands” (RASSLs) or “designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs” (DREADDs); this allows for the studying of GPCR signaling control in vitro and in vivo. One example of these receptors is a mutated M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) that no longer responds to acetylcholine (ACh), only clozapine-N-oxide. Clozapine-N-oxide is otherwise pharmacologically inert.