Discovery of ((1S,3R)-1-isopropyl-3-((3S,4S)-3-methoxy-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-4-ylamino)cyclopentyl)(4-(5-(trifluoromethyl)pyridazin-3-yl)piperazin-1-yl)methanone, PF-4254196, a CCR2 antagonist with an improved cardiovascular profile.

We describe the systematic optimization, focused on the improvement of CV-TI, of a series of CCR2 antagonists. This work resulted in the identification of 10 (((1S,3R)-1-isopropyl-3-((3S,4S)-3-methoxy-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-4-ylamino)cyclopentyl)(4-(5-(trifluoromethyl)pyridazin-3-yl)piperazin-1-yl)methanone) which possessed a low projected human dose 35-45mg BID and a CV-TI=3800-fold.

Evaluation of the rubidium efflux assay for preclinical identification of HERG blockade.

Inhibition of the delayed-rectifier potassium channel current, human ether-a-go-go (hERG), by pharmaceutical agents can lead to acquired long QT syndrome and the generation of potentially lethal arrhythmias and sudden death. There remains an unmet need for higher-throughput assays to screen compounds in preclinical development for the potential to block hERG and cause QT prolongation. We evaluated the rubidium efflux assay for its ability to determine block of the hERG potassium channel. hERG-transfected human embryonic kidney-293 cells were cultured on 96-well assay plates and loaded with rubidium ion by incubating in media in which potassium was replaced by 5.4 mM Rb+. Cells were exposed to test compounds and then depolarized with a K+ channel opening buffer containing 50 mM K+. The supernatant was removed, and cells were lysed using 0.1% Triton X-100. Concentration-response curves were generated for test agents by determining the Rb+ efflux using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Multiple trials with cisapride yielded 50% inhibitory concentration values between 308.1 +/- 11 nM to 456.3 +/- 24 nM for inhibition of Rb+ efflux and a Z factor of 0.80 +/- 0.07 (n = 5 plates, 12 wells per plate). The values for inhibition of the hERG channel exhibited a rightward shift in potency as compared to those measured using electrophysiological techniques. In addition, we evaluated 19 blinded compounds at 10 microM in the Rb+ efflux assay, and compared results to those using patch clamp electrophysiology and the dofetilide displacement binding assay. The dofetilide displacement binding assay yielded a good correlation with electrophysiological measurements of hERG block. The rubidium efflux assay lacked sensitivity to consistently identify significant channel blockade. In conclusion, the rubidium efflux assay provides a higher-throughput means to identify potent hERG channel blocking agents, but lacks the sensitivity required to accurately determine the potency of blockade.

[Study on the fluorescence of poly (amidoamine) dendrimers decorated with coumarin-3-methyl acyl chloride on the periphery].

The polyamidoamine dendrimers, PAMAM-CMAC, was synthesized by decorating PAMAM dendrimer with coumarin-3-methyl acyl chlorine on the periphery. The structures were characterized by FTIR and H-NMR spectra. The fluorescence analysis indicated the PAMAM-CMAC exhibits strong fluorescence emission. The fluorescence intensity of PAMAM-CMAC is much higher than that of PAMAM dendrimer. The fluorescence intensity of PAMAM-CMAC was affected by pH, concentration and solvent. At a considerably big pH value range, the fluorescence emission of PAMAM-CMAC is comparatively stable. Meanwhile, the fluorescence emission of PAMAM-CMAC shifts to longer wavelength with the increase in solvent polarity.

Firing features and potassium channel content of murine spiral ganglion neurons vary with cochlear location.

Neurons from varied regions of the central nervous system can show widely divergent responses to electrical stimuli that are determined by cell-specific differences in ion channel composition. The well-ordered and highly characterized peripheral auditory system allows one to explore the significance of this diversity during the final stages of postnatal development. We examined the electrophysiological features of murine spiral ganglion neurons in vitro at a time when recordings could be made from the cell bodies before myelination. These cells carry information about sound stimuli from hair cell receptors in the basilar membrane and are arranged tonotopically. Spiral ganglion neuron responses to depolarizing current injection were assessed with whole-cell current clamp recordings from cells that were isolated separately from the apical and basal thirds of the mouse cochlea. These cells displayed systematic variation in their firing. Apex neurons (low frequency coding) showed longer latency, slowly adapting responses, whereas base neurons (high frequency coding) showed short latency, rapidly adapting responses to the same stimuli. This physiological diversity was mirrored by regional differences in ion channel content assessed immunohistochemically. Apex neurons had a preponderance of Kv4.2 subunits, whereas base neurons possessed greater levels of K(Ca), Kv1.1, and Kv3.1 subunits. Taken together, these results indicate that the distribution of a set of voltage-gated potassium channels may relate specifically to a particular range of coding frequencies. These studies also suggest that intrinsic properties of spiral ganglion neurons can contribute to the characteristic responses of the peripheral auditory system. Their potential role in development and adult function is discussed.

Effect of compound plate composition on measurement of hERG current IC(50) using PatchXpress.

Inhibition of the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) potassium channel by pharmaceutical agents can lead to acquired long QT syndrome and the generation of potentially lethal arrhythmias. Higher throughput automated patch clamp systems, such as PatchXpress, can greatly increase the speed and capacity of evaluation of pharmaceutical compounds for hERG blocking activity. A factor that may affect the IC(50) value of a compound measured in this system is the composition of the multi-well compound plate. Hydrophobic compounds may adsorb to the surfaces of multi-well plates resulting in a reduction in the effective concentration of the compound delivered to the cell and altered IC(50) values. In the present study, we investigated the effects of four different compound plates--glass vials, non-binding polystyrene, hydrophilic polystyrene, and polystyrene--on determination of IC(50)s for four compounds--sotalol, dofetilide, cisapride, and bepridil--which ranged in hydrophobicity. In addition, we investigated the effects of incubation time in the compound plate on determination of IC(50)s. hERG currents were measured using the PatchXpress 7000A Automated Parallel Patch Clamp System (Molecular Devices Corporation; Sunnyvale, CA) and hERG channels stably expressed in HEK293 cells. The results suggest that more hydrophobic compounds may adsorb to non-binding polystyrene, hydrophilic, and polystyrene compound plates versus glass plates, especially with increasing time on the plates, resulting in altered IC(50) values.

Dendrotoxin-sensitive K(+) currents contribute to accommodation in murine spiral ganglion neurons.

We have previously identified two broad electrophysiological classes of spiral ganglion neuron that differ in their rate of accommodation (Mo & Davis, 1997a). In order to understand the underlying ionic basis of these characteristic firing patterns, we used alpha-dendrotoxin (alpha-DTX) to eliminate the contribution of a class of voltage-gated K(+) channels and assessed its effects on a variety of electrophysiological properties by using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Exposure to alpha-DTX caused neurons that initially displayed rapid accommodation to fire continuously during 240 ms depolarizing test pulses within a restricted voltage range. We found a non-monotonic relationship between number of action potentials fired and membrane potential in the presence of alpha-DTX that peaked at voltages between -40 to -10 mV and declined at more depolarized and hyperpolarized test potentials. The alpha-DTX-sensitive current had two components that activated in different voltage ranges. Analysis of recordings made from acutely isolated neurons gave estimated half-maximal activation voltages of -63 and 12 mV for the two components. Because alpha-DTX blocks the Kv1.1, Kv1.2 and Kv1.6 subunits, we examined the action of the Kv1.1-selective blocker dendrotoxin K (DTX-K). We found that this antagonist reproduced the effects of alpha-DTX on neuronal firing, and that the DTX-K-sensitive current also had two separate components. These data suggest that the transformation from a rapidly adapting to a slowly adapting firing pattern was mediated by the low voltage-activated component of DTX-sensitive current with a potential contribution from the high voltage-activated component at more depolarized potentials. In addition, the effects of DTX-K indicate that Kv1.1 subunits are important constituents of the underlying voltage-gated potassium channels.

A slowly formed transient conformer of Abeta(1-40) is toxic to inward channels of dissociated hippocampal and cortical neurons of rats.

The mechanism by which amyloid peptide (Abeta(1-40)) produces effects on neurotransmission is currently unresolved. In initial experiments, using the patch-clamp technique, we found that 11.5 microM of preaggregated Abeta(1-40) altered the hippocampal neuron resting membrane potential and inhibited action potential firing. To identify the toxic species, the effects of Abeta(1-40) on sodium (I(Na)), calcium (I(Ca)), and potassium (I(K)) currents in hippocampal neurons were examined as a function of peptide aggregation state in a specially designed miniature recording chamber. Aggregation reactions were induced by constant shaking, starting with 50 microM monomeric peptide. At 10- to 30-min intervals, the ionic currents were examined on a single neuron suspended in control saline and then in a 100-microl sample of the aggregating peptide. We found that samples of the peptide taken 60-120 min into the aggregation process contained species that exhibited maximal inhibitory effects over a broad potential range in the rank ordering of I(Na) > I(Ca). I(K) was inhibited only slightly at depolarized potentials. Inhibition of APF through blockade of these channels would inhibit normal neuronal activity and directly contribute to cognitive dysfunction. In previous studies on SH-EP cells, we showed that neither monomeric nor fibrillar peptide had significant effect on cell viability except during exposure to the 60-120 minute aggregation product when cell death was recorded. Our kinetic model demonstrated that the toxic species was a slowly formed transient conformer (activated monomer), which was the only aggregating species that passed through a maximum concentration during aggregation. This species amounted to only a small fraction of the total amount of aggregating peptide. We conclude that, for both the native neurons in the present study as well as SH-EP1 cells, the activated monomeric conformer of the peptide is the toxic species.