Dorsomorphin is an ATP competitive inhibitor of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) with a Ki of 109 nM and no significant activity on several structurally related kinases including ZAPK, SYK, PKCi, PKA and JAK3. Dorsomorphin inhibits the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptors ALK2, ALK3 and ALK6, and promotes cardiomyogenesis in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro as well as promoting neural differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells as part of a chemical cocktail. Dorsomorphin can be used in a protocol to generate brain organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells. In vivo, dorsomorphin can inhibit formalin-induced inflammatory nociception in mice.
