Discovery of Isoxazole Analogues of Sazetidine-A as Selective α4β2-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Partial Agonists for the Treatment of Depression
作者:Jianhua Liu、Li-Fang Yu、J. Brek Eaton、Barbara Caldarone、Katie Cavino、Christina Ruiz、Matthew Terry、Allison Fedolak、Daguang Wang、Afshin Ghavami、David A. Lowe、Dani Brunner、Ronald J. Lukas、Alan P. Kozikowski
DOI:10.1021/jm200855b
日期:2011.10.27
Depression, a common neurological condition, is one of the leading causes of disability and suicide worldwide. Standard treatment, targeting monoamine transporters selective for the neurotransmitters serotonin and noradrenaline, is not able to help many patients that are poor responders. This study advances the development of sazetidine-A analogues that interact with alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) as partial agonists and that possess favorable antidepressant profiles. The resulting compounds that are highly selective for the alpha 4 beta 2 subtype of nAChR over alpha 3 beta 4-nAChRs are partial agonists at the alpha 4 beta 2 subtype and have excellent antidepressant behavioral profiles as measured by the mouse forced swim test. Preliminary absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) studies for one promising ligand revealed an excellent plasma protein binding (PPB) profile, low CYP450-related metabolism, and low cardiovascular toxicity, suggesting it is a promising lead as well as a drug candidate to be advanced through the drug discovery pipeline.