A novel 5HT3 antagonist 4i (N-(3-chloro-2-methylphenyl)quinoxalin-2-carboxamide) prevents diabetes-induced depressive phenotypes in mice: Modulation of serotonergic system.

Despite the presence of a multitudinous pharmacotherapy, diabetes-induced depressive disorder remains undertreated. Evidence suggests that brain serotonergic deficits are associated with depressive-like behavior in diabetes and that 5HT3 receptor (5HT3R) antagonists have serotonergic facilitatory effects. This study examined the effects of a novel 5HT3R antagonist, 4i (N-(3-chloro-2-methylphenyl)quinoxalin-2-carboxamide), in diabetes-induced depressive phenotypes. Experimentally, (1) to evaluate the effects of 4i, mice with 8-weeks of diabetes (induced by streptozotocin, 200mg/kg, i.p.) were treated with vehicle, 4i (0.5 and 1mg/kg/day, i.p.), fluoxetine (10mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 4-weeks and subjected to neurobehavioral assays, followed by biochemical estimation of serotonin levels in midbrain, prefrontal-cortex and cerebellum. (2) To evaluate the role of 5HT3R in the postulated effect of 4i, diabetic mice were given 4i (1mg/kg/day, i.p.) after 1h of 1-(m-chlorophenyl)-biguanide (mCPBG, a 5HT3R agonist, 10mg/kg/day, i.p.) treatment and subjected to the same protocol. The results showed that diabetic mice exhibited a significant behavioral deficit, including depression-like behavior in forced swim test, anxiety-like in open field test and sociability deficits in social interaction test, along with a significant decrease in serotonin level in these brain regions. 4i (1mg/kg), similar to fluoxetine, prevented these behavioral abnormalities and normalized brain serotonin levels. 4i (0.5mg/kg) ameliorated only diabetes-induced depressive-like behavior and serotonin deficits, but not anxiety-like effects. mCPBG blunted 4i-mediated behavioral response and increase in brain serotonin levels. Altogether, this study suggests that 4i prevents diabetes-induced depressive phenotypes in mice, which may involve antagonism of 5HT3Rs and increase in serotonin levels in discrete brain regions.

Design of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ligands using the (het)Aryl-1,2,3-triazole core: Synthesis, in vitro evaluation and SAR studies.

We report here the synthesis of a large library of 1,2,3-triazole derivatives which were in vitro tested as α7 nAchR ligands. The SAR study revealed that several crucial factors are involved in the affinity of these compounds for α7 nAchR such as a (R) quinuclidine configuration and a mono C-3 quinuclidine substitution. The triazole ring was substituted by a phenyl ring bearing small OMe/CH2F groups or fluorine atom and by several heterocycles such as thiophenes, furanes, benzothiophenes or benzofuranes. Among the 30 derivatives tested, the two derivatives 10 and 39 with Ki in the nanomolar range were identified (2.3 and 3 nM respectively). They exhibited a strict selectivity toward the α4ß2 nicotinic receptor (up to 1 µM) but interacted with the 5HT3 receptors with Ki around 3 nM. Synthesis, SAR studies and a full description of the derivatives are reported.

Discovery of new anti-depressants from structurally novel 5-HT3 receptor antagonists: design, synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of 3-ethoxyquinoxalin-2-carboxamides.

A novel series of 3-ethoxyquinoxalin-2-carboxamides were designed as per the pharmacophoric requirements of 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist using ligand-based approach. The desired carboxamides were synthesized from the key intermediate, 3-ethoxyquinoxalin-2-carboxylic acid by coupling with appropriate amines in the presence of 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC·HCl) and 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBt). The 5-HT(3) receptor antagonism was evaluated in longitudinal muscle myenteric plexus preparation from guinea pig ileum against 5-HT(3) agonist, 2-methy-5-HT, which was expressed in the form of pA(2) values. Compound 6h (3-ethoxyquinoxalin-2-yl)(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methanone was found to be the most active compound, which expressed a pA(2) value of 7.7. In forced swim test, the compounds with higher pA(2) value exhibited good anti-depressant-like activity and compounds with lower pA(2) value failed to show activity as compared to the vehicle-treated group.