Pharmacological Assessment of Novel Phenylacetamide as a Sigma 1 Receptor Ligand

Date

2014-05-01

Authors

Malik, Maninder

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Abstract

The symptoms of psychosis have been categorized as positive, negative and cognitive. Traditionally drug discovery in psychiatric disorders has focused on positive symptoms of the disease. However, cognitive impairment is equally prevalent and represents a major impediment to the recovery of patients. Hence, research on the drug discovery and development that can improve overall quality of life of patients with neuropsychiatric conditions is important. The main aim of this project was to evaluate a selective and potent sigma 1 receptor phenylacetamide (LS-1-137) as a potential pharmacotherapeutic agent for treating neuropsychiatric disorders and associated cognitive impairment. The sigma 1 receptor is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident protein located on the interface of ER and mitochondria. The sigma 1 receptor is a 25 KDa protein that shares no amino acid sequence homology with any other known mammalian proteins. The research being done on these novel receptors suggests that rather than being a classical receptor-signaling unit sigma 1 receptors act as a molecular chaperone. Several studies suggest sigma 1 receptor ligands modulate abnormal neurotransmission that contributes to the pathogenesis of several CNS disorders. In recent studies by our laboratory, it was found that our novel sigma 1 receptor ligand, LS-1-137 (developed by our collaborators Mach and colleagues) exhibit neuroprotection both in vitro and in vivo. In this project we further characterized LS-1-137 as a potential treatment option for cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders. Our fundamental hypothesis is that sigma 1 receptor selective compounds represent a potential neuroprotective pharmacotherapy for treating psychosis and cognitive deficits associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. LS-1-137 was evaluated in a 2, 5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) induced head twitch response (HTR) model and a scopolamine-induced cognition impairment model. Our findings suggest that LS-1-137 attenuates the DOI-induced HTR and alleviates scopolamine-induced impairment in learning. Our in vitro data suggest that LS-1-137 is an agonist at sigma 1 receptors and triggers the release of BDNF from rat astrocytes. Furthermore, rotarod and swim test studies indicated that unlike currently prescribed neuroleptics, LS-1-137 does not compromise the agility or muscular coordination of animals. Therefore, in this dissertation we have assessed a novel pharmacotherapeutic agent that may treat the psychosis and cognitive dysfunction associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.

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