Photopharmacology
Photopharmacology is an emerging approach in medicine in which drugs are activated and deactivated with light. The energy of light is used to change for shape and chemical properties of the drug, resulting in different biological activity. This is done to ultimately achieve control when and where drugs are active in a reversible manner, to prevent side effects and exposure to the environment of antibiotics. Switching drugs 'on' and 'off' is achieved by introducing photoswitches such as azobenzene, spiropyran or diarylethene into the drug. By introducing the photoswitch, the drug has two different states between which can be switched with light. Since both states have a different structure, the activity of the drug is different hence the 'on' and 'off' state of the drug An example is photostatin, which is an inhibitor that can be switched on and off in vivo, to optically control microtubule dynamics.
