Investigation of the histamine H3 receptor binding site. Design and synthesis of hybrid agonists with a lipophilic side chain

J Med Chem. 2010 Sep 9;53(17):6445-56. doi: 10.1021/jm100643t.

Abstract

As a part of our search for novel histamine H3 receptor agonists, we designed and synthesized hybrid compounds in which the lipophilic (4'-alkylphenylthio)ethyl moiety of a novel H3 receptor agonist, 4-(2-(4'-tert-butylphenylthio)ethyl)-1H-imidazole (1), was incorporated into N(alpha)-methylhistamine, immepip, and immethridine derivatives. These hybrid compounds were expected to interact concurrently with the histamine-binding site and a putative hydrophobic region in the H3 receptor. Among them, piperidine- and pyridine-type derivatives displayed partial agonist activity, and (S)-4-(1-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)-2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenylthio)ethyl)piperidine (36) was identified as a potent H3 agonist. We performed computational docking studies to examine the binding mode of the agonists. The results indicated that immepip interacts with the key residues, Asp114 and Glu206, in a different manner from histamine. The binding mode of 36 to these residues is similar to that of immepip, and the lipophilic tail of 36 has an additional interaction with a hydrophobic region in transmembrane helix 6 of the receptor. These results indicated that 36 served as a useful tool for studies on receptor-agonist interactions and drug design.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Binding Sites
  • CHO Cells
  • Cricetinae
  • Cricetulus
  • Drug Design
  • Histamine Agonists / chemical synthesis*
  • Histamine Agonists / chemistry
  • Histamine Agonists / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Imidazoles / chemical synthesis*
  • Imidazoles / chemistry
  • Imidazoles / pharmacology
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Piperidines / chemical synthesis*
  • Piperidines / chemistry
  • Piperidines / pharmacology
  • Pyridines / chemical synthesis*
  • Pyridines / chemistry
  • Pyridines / pharmacology
  • Radioligand Assay
  • Receptors, Histamine H3 / chemistry*
  • Receptors, Histamine H3 / metabolism
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Histamine Agonists
  • Imidazoles
  • Piperidines
  • Pyridines
  • Receptors, Histamine H3