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Discovery and development of a potent and highly selective small molecule muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype I (mAChR 1 or M1) antagonist in vitro and in vivo probe.

AUTHORS

Weaver CDC David , Sheffler DJ Douglas J , Lewis LM L Michelle , Bridges TM Thomas M , Williams R Richard , Nalywajko NT Natalia T , Kennedy JP J Phillip , Mulder MM Matthew M , Jadhav S Satyawan , Aldrich LA Leslie A , Jones CK Carrie K , Marlo JE Joy E , Niswender CM Colleen M , Mock MM Matthew M , Zheng F Fang , Conn PJ P Jeffrey , Lindsley CW Craig W . Current topics in medicinal chemistry. 2009 ; 9(13). 1217-26

ABSTRACT

This article describes the discovery and development of the first highly selective, small molecule antagonist of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype I (mAChR1 or M(1)). An M(1) functional, cell-based calcium-mobilization assay identified three distinct chemical series with initial selectivity for M(1) versus M(4). An iterative parallel synthesis approach was employed to optimize all three series in parallel, which led to the development of novel microwave-assisted chemistry and provided important take home lessons for probe development projects. Ultimately, this effort produced VU0255035, a potent (IC(50) = 130 nM) and selective (>75-fold vs. M(2)-M(5) and > 10 microM vs. a panel of 75 GPCRs, ion channels and transporters) small molecule M(1) antagonist. Further profiling demonstrated that VU0255035 was centrally penetrant (Brain(AUC)/Plasma(AUC) of 0.48) and active in vivo, rendering it acceptable as both an in vitro and in vivo MLSCN/ MLPCN probe molecule for studying and dissecting M(1) function.

This article describes the discovery and development of the first highly selective, small molecule antagonist of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype I (mAChR1 or M(1)). An M(1) functional, cell-based calcium-mobilization assay identified three distinct chemical series with initial selectivity for M(1) versus M(4). An iterative parallel synthesis approach was employed to optimize all three series in parallel, which led to the development of novel microwave-assisted chemistry and provided important take home lessons for probe development projects. Ultimately, this effort produced VU0255035, a potent (IC(50) = 130 nM) and selective (>75-fold vs. M(2)-M(5) and > 10 microM vs. a panel of 75 GPCRs, ion channels and transporters) small molecule M(1) antagonist. Further profiling demonstrated that VU0255035 was centrally penetrant (Brain(AUC)/Plasma(AUC) of 0.48) and active in vivo, rendering it acceptable as both an in vitro and in vivo MLSCN/ MLPCN probe molecule for studying and dissecting M(1) function.