Deconstruction of the α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulator Desformylflustrabromine
作者:Nadezhda German、Jin-Sung Kim、Atul Jain、Malgorzata Dukat、Anshul Pandya、Yilong Ma、Maegan Weltzin、Marvin K. Schulte、Richard A. Glennon
DOI:10.1021/jm200834x
日期:2011.10.27
Desformylflustrabromine (dFBr; 1), perhaps the first selective positive allosteric modulator of alpha 4 beta 2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine (nACh) receptors, was deconstructed to determine which structural features contribute to its actions on receptors expressed in Xenopus ooycytes using two-electrode voltage clamp techniques. Although the intact structure of 1 was found to be optimal, several deconstructed analogs retained activity. Neither the 6-bromo substituent nor the entire 2-position chain is required for activity. In particular, reduction of the olefinic side chain of 1, as seen with 6, not only resulted in retention of activity/potency but in enhanced selectivity for alpha 4 beta 2 versus alpha 7 nACh receptors. Pharmacophoric features for the allosteric modulation of alpha 4 beta 2 nACh receptors by 1 were identified.