M4 agonists/5HT7 antagonists with potential as antischizophrenic drugs: serominic compounds

Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2007 May 1;17(9):2649-55. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2007.01.093. Epub 2007 Feb 2.

Abstract

Chronic low-dose treatment of rats with the psychomimetic drug, phencyclidine, induces regionally specific metabolic and neurochemical changes in the CNS that mirror those observed in the brains of schizophrenic patients. Recent evidence suggests that drugs targeting serotoninergic and muscarinic receptors, and in particular 5-HT(7) antagonists and M(4) agonists, exert beneficial effects in this model of schizophrenia. Compounds that display this combined pattern of activity we refer to as serominic compounds. Based upon leads from natural product screening, we have designed and synthesised such serominic compounds, which are principally arylamidine derivatives of tetrahydroisoquinolines, and shown that they have the required serominic profile in ligand binding assays and show potential antipsychotic activity in functional assays.

MeSH terms

  • Amphetamine / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Antipsychotic Agents / chemical synthesis*
  • Antipsychotic Agents / chemistry
  • Antipsychotic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Atropine / pharmacology
  • Brain / drug effects
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / methods*
  • Drug Design
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Humans
  • Kinetics
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Muscarinic Agonists / chemical synthesis*
  • Muscarinic Agonists / chemistry
  • Muscarinic Agonists / pharmacology*
  • Rats
  • Receptor, Muscarinic M4 / chemistry*
  • Schizophrenia / drug therapy*

Substances

  • Antipsychotic Agents
  • Muscarinic Agonists
  • Receptor, Muscarinic M4
  • Atropine
  • Amphetamine