Smoothened agonist (SAG) was one of the first small-molecule agonists developed for the protein Smoothened,[1] a key part of the hedgehog signaling pathway, which is involved in brain development as well as having a number of other functions in the body.
Smoothened agonist has been shown to aid proliferation and survival of developing neurons,[2] and prevent drug-induced brain injury.[3] When injected into the cerebellum of newborn mice with an induced Down syndrome-like condition, Smoothened agonist was able to stimulate normal cerebellum development, resulting in significant behavioural improvement once the mice had grown to adulthood.[4]
Smoothened Agonist was capable of inducing androgen production in both prostate and bone stromal cells that was significantly greater than even similarly treated prostate cancer cells.[5]
The substance has been used as part of a chemical cocktail to turn old and senescent human cells back into young ones (as measured by transcriptomic age), without turning them all the way back into undifferentiated stem cells.[6]
