Pharmacology Of A Novel Class Of Allosteric Modulators For The Alpha4 Beta2 Sub-Type Of Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2009Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are members of a large family of ligand gated ion channels that mediate inhibitory and excitatory neural transmission in the central nervous system (CNS). The nicotinic subfamily has been implicated in a range of neurological disorders including autism, Alzheimer's disease and nicotine addiction; diseases that are currently both challenging and costly to treat. Despite the apparent importance of nAChRs in these disorders, only a limited number of drugs are currently available for altering nicotinic signalling in the CNS. No drug therapies are currently available that specifically target autism and only a limited number of drugs are available for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This thesis presents a novel class of nAChR ligands based on the natural product desformylflustrabromine (dFBr). Desformylflustrabromine (dFBr), a metabolite of the marine bryozoan Flustra Foliacea, was previously identified as an allosteric modulator of the alpha4beta2 subtype of nAChRs. In collaboration with Dr. Richard Glennon at the Virginia Commonwealth University, College of Pharmacy, we developed a synthetic dFBr and evaluated its interaction with two of the most common subtypes of nAChRS, alpha7 and alpha4beta2 (Chapter 2). We confirmed that dFBr is the active component of Flustra Foliacea and identified an additional inhibitory action that becomes evident as dFBr concentrations are increased beyond 10muM. This inhibition was not previously reported. Synthetic dFBr appears significantly more potent at potentiation of alpha4beta2 receptors then reported for the natural extract and shows only inhibitory action on alpha7 receptors. Multiple analogues of dFBr were designed and synthesized to determine the structure activity relation (SAR) for dFBr's action on alpha4beta2 receptors (Chapter 3). We identified three analogues capable of potentiating responses of acetylcholine. The majority of compounds inhibited responses on both alpha4beta2 and alpha7 receptors. The data presented here provide important information for determining a preliminary pharmacophore for dFBr and provide direction for the design of additional analogues on the path to development of more potent and potentially therapeutically useful analogues. To better understand the relationship of dFBr to other nAChR modulators, we also compared the action of dFBr to that of physostigmine, zinc and 17 beta-estradiol (Chapter 4). These compounds are thought to act at three different binding sites on nAChRs. All three compounds increase responses of alpha4beta2 receptors to acetylcholine. Our data show that dFBr is distinct from the clinically used modulator physostigmine but suggests similarities in mechanism with zinc and 17-beta-estradiol. These data provide important information regarding the mechanism of dFBr modulation and provide direction for future site directed mutagenesis studies that will identify the dFBr binding site. Identification of the binding site is critical for the development of receptor models that will facilitate computer assisted drug design

A Structural and Mutagenic Blueprint for Molecular Recognition of Strychnine and d-Tubocurarine by Different Cys-Loop Receptors

Cys-loop receptors (CLR) are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast excitatory or inhibitory transmission in the nervous system. Strychnine and d-tubocurarine (d-TC) are neurotoxins that have been highly instrumental in decades of research on glycine receptors (GlyR) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR), respectively. In this study we addressed the question how the molecular recognition of strychnine and d-TC occurs with high affinity and yet low specificity towards diverse CLR family members. X-ray crystal structures of the complexes with AChBP, a well-described structural homolog of the extracellular domain of the nAChRs, revealed that strychnine and d-TC adopt multiple occupancies and different ligand orientations, stabilizing the homopentameric protein in an asymmetric state. This introduces a new level of structural diversity in CLRs. Unlike protein and peptide neurotoxins, strychnine and d-TC form a limited number of contacts in the binding pocket of AChBP, offering an explanation for their low selectivity. Based on the ligand interactions observed in strychnine- and d-TC-AChBP complexes we performed alanine-scanning mutagenesis in the binding pocket of the human α1 GlyR and α7 nAChR and showed the functional relevance of these residues in conferring high potency of strychnine and d-TC, respectively. Our results demonstrate that a limited number of ligand interactions in the binding pocket together with an energetic stabilization of the extracellular domain are key to the poor selective recognition of strychnine and d-TC by CLRs as diverse as the GlyR, nAChR, and 5-HT3R

Acute Administration of Desformylflustrabromine Relieves Chemically Induced Pain in CD-1 Mice

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are cell membrane-bound ion channels that are widely distributed in the central nervous system. The α4β2 subtype of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor plays an important role in modulating the signaling pathways for pain. Previous studies have shown that agonists, partial agonists, and positive allosteric modulators for the α4β2 receptors are effective in relieving pain. Desformylflustrabromine is a compound that acts as an allosteric modulator of α4β2 receptors. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of desformylflustrabromine on chemically induced pain. For this purpose, the formalin-induced pain test and the acetic acid-induced writhing response test were carried out in CD-1 mice. Both tests represent chemical assays for nociception. The results show that desformylflustrabromine is effective in producing an analgesic effect in both tests used for assessing nociception. These results suggest that desformylflustrabromine has the potential to become a clinically used drug for pain relief

Absolute Configuration and Pharmacology of the Poison Frog Alkaloid Phantasmidine

Phantasmidine, a rigid congener of the well-known nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist epibatidine, is found in the same species of poison frog (<i>Epipedobates anthonyi</i>). Natural phantasmidine was found to be a 4:1 scalemic mixture, enriched in the (2a<i>R</i>,4a<i>S</i>,9a<i>S</i>) enantiomer by chiral-phase LC-MS comparison to the synthetic enantiomers whose absolute configurations were previously established by Mosher’s amide analysis. The major enantiomer has the opposite <i>S</i> configuration at the benzylic carbon to natural epibatidine, whose benzylic carbon is <i>R</i>. Pharmacological characterization of the synthetic racemate and separated enantiomers established that phantasmidine is ∼10-fold less potent than epibatidine, but ∼100-fold more potent than nicotine in most receptors tested. Unlike epibatidine, phantasmidine is sharply enantioselective in its activity and the major natural enantiomer whose benzylic carbon has the 4a<i>S</i> configuration is more active. The stereoselective pharmacology of phantasmidine is ascribed to its rigid and asymmetric shape as compared to the nearly symmetric conformations previously suggested for epibatidine enantiomers. While phantasmidine itself is too toxic for direct therapeutic use, we believe it is a useful platform for the development of potent and selective nicotinic agonists, which may have value as pharmacological tools

Absolute Configuration and Pharmacology of the Poison Frog Alkaloid Phantasmidine

Phantasmidine, a rigid congener of the well-known nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist epibatidine, is found in the same species of poison frog (<i>Epipedobates anthonyi</i>). Natural phantasmidine was found to be a 4:1 scalemic mixture, enriched in the (2a<i>R</i>,4a<i>S</i>,9a<i>S</i>) enantiomer by chiral-phase LC-MS comparison to the synthetic enantiomers whose absolute configurations were previously established by Mosher’s amide analysis. The major enantiomer has the opposite <i>S</i> configuration at the benzylic carbon to natural epibatidine, whose benzylic carbon is <i>R</i>. Pharmacological characterization of the synthetic racemate and separated enantiomers established that phantasmidine is ∼10-fold less potent than epibatidine, but ∼100-fold more potent than nicotine in most receptors tested. Unlike epibatidine, phantasmidine is sharply enantioselective in its activity and the major natural enantiomer whose benzylic carbon has the 4a<i>S</i> configuration is more active. The stereoselective pharmacology of phantasmidine is ascribed to its rigid and asymmetric shape as compared to the nearly symmetric conformations previously suggested for epibatidine enantiomers. While phantasmidine itself is too toxic for direct therapeutic use, we believe it is a useful platform for the development of potent and selective nicotinic agonists, which may have value as pharmacological tools