Azapeptides: a new class of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors

A class of potent inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme (dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase, E.C. 3.4.15.1) is reported, in which an alpha-aza substitution into the substituted N-carboxymethyl dipeptide structure of enalapril is made. The inhibitors 2 exhibit striking alterations in their conformational and acid-base properties due to the aza substitution, as is clear from pKa data and the x-ray crystal structure of a model azapeptide. In spite of this, they bind tightly to the enzyme, with inhibitor potency comparable to that of captopril.     

A-ring modifications on the triazafluorenone core structure and their mGluR1 antagonist properties

A-ring modifications on the triazafluorenone core structure were investigated. Five membered heterocycles such as pyrazoles and isothiazoles are not tolerated. It has been found that the pyrimidine nucleus was very well tolerated on the left hand side. Amino pyrimidine compounds 24 and 27 showed acceptable PK profile with significant brain penetration. Compound 9 served as a versatile intermediate for a number of chemical transformations.     

Discovery of new SCH 39166 analogs as potent and selective dopamine D1 receptor antagonists

A series of novel dopamine D₁ antagonists derived from functionalization of the D-ring of SCH 39166 were prepared. A number of these compounds displayed subnanomolar D₁ activity and more than 1000-fold selectivity over D₂. We found C-3 derivatization afforded compounds with superior overall profile in comparison to the C-2 and C-4 derivatization. A number of highly potent D₁ antagonists were discovered which have excellent selectivity over other dopamine receptors and improved PK profile compared to SCH 39166.     

Remote functionalization of SCH 39166: Discovery of potent and selective benzazepine dopamine D1 receptor antagonists

A series of novel benzazepine derived dopamine D₁ antagonists have been discovered. These compounds are highly potent at D₁ and showed excellent selectivity over D₂ and D₄ receptors. SAR studies revealed that a variety of functional groups are tolerated on the D-ring of known tetracyclic benzazepine analog 2, SCH 39166, leading to compounds with nanomolar potency at D₁ and good selectivity over D₂-like receptors.     

Mendelian randomization supports causality between maternal hyperglycemia and epigenetic regulation of leptin gene in newborns

Leptin is an adipokine that acts in the central nervous system and regulates energy balance. Animal models and human observational studies have suggested that leptin surge in the perinatal period has a critical role in programming long-term risk of obesity. In utero exposure to maternal hyperglycemia has been associated with increased risk of obesity later in life. Epigenetic mechanisms are suspected to be involved in fetal programming of long term metabolic diseases. We investigated whether DNA methylation levels near LEP locus mediate the relation between maternal glycemia and neonatal leptin levels using the 2-step epigenetic Mendelian randomization approach. We used data and samples from up to 485 mother-child dyads from Gen3G, a large prospective population-based cohort. First, we built a genetic risk score to capture maternal glycemia based on 10 known glycemic genetic variants (GRS₁₀) and showed it was an adequate instrumental variable (β = 0.046 mmol/L of maternal fasting glucose per additional risk allele; SE = 0.007; P = 7.8 × 10⁻¹¹; N = 467). A higher GRS₁₀ was associated with lower methylation levels at cg12083122 located near LEP (β = −0.072 unit per additional risk allele; SE = 0.04; P = 0.05; N = 166). Direction and effect size of association between the instrumental variable GRS₁₀ and methylation at cg12083122 were consistent with the negative association we observed using measured maternal glycemia. Lower DNA methylation levels at cg12083122 were associated with higher cord blood leptin levels (β = −0.17 log of cord blood leptin per unit; SE = 0.07; P = 0.01; N = 170). Our study supports that maternal glycemia is part of causal pathways influencing offspring leptin epigenetic regulation.     

Structure based design of iminohydantoin BACE1 inhibitors: identification of an orally available, centrally active BACE1 inhibitor

From an initial lead 1, a structure-based design approach led to identification of a novel, high-affinity iminohydantoin BACE1 inhibitor that lowers CNS-derived Aβ following oral administration to rats. Herein we report SAR development in the S3 and F' subsites of BACE1 for this series, the synthetic approaches employed in this effort, and in vivo data for the optimized compound.     

Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of piperidine-based melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 antagonists

Isosteric replacement of the urea group of lead compound 1 led to novel substituted piperidine phenylamide analogues. SAR on the electron-induced effects of various linkers as well as substituents on the phenyl rings and the piperidine nitrogen has been investigated. Many single-digit nanomolar MCH R1 antagonists have been identified from this series.     

Triazolo-tetrahydrofluorenones as selective estrogen receptor beta agonists

Several tetrahydrofluorenones with a triazole fused across C7-C8 showed high levels of ERbeta-selectivity and were found to be potent ERbeta-agonists. As a class they demonstrate improved oral bioavailability in the rat over a parent class of 7-hydroxy-tetrahydrofluorenones. The most selective agonist displayed 5.7 nM affinity and 333-fold selectivity for ERbeta.     

Tetrahydroquinoline sulfonamides as vasopressin 1b receptor anatgonists

Vasopressin 1b (V1b) antagonists have been postulated as possible treatments for depression and anxiety. A novel series of potent and selective V1b antagonists has been identified starting from an in-house screen hit. The incorporation of a sulfonamide linker between a tetrahydroisoquinoline core and amino piperidine lead to the identification of a V1b antagonist with similar affinity for human and rat receptors. Further optimization of the right hand portion afforded potent V1b antagonists that possessed moderate to high selectivity over other receptors.     

Effects of Attention to Auditory Motion on Cortical Activations during Smooth Pursuit Eye Tracking

Background

In contrast to traditional views that consider smooth pursuit as a relatively automatic process, evidence has been reported for the importance of attention for accurate pursuit performance. However, the exact role that attention might play in the maintenance of pursuit remains unclear.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We analysed the neuronal activity associated with healthy subjects executing smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) during concurrent attentive tracking of a moving sound source, which was either in-phase or in antiphase to the executed eye movements. Assuming that attentional resources must be allocated to the moving sound source, the simultaneous execution of SPEM and auditory tracking in diverging directions should result in increased load on common attentional resources. By using an auditory stimulus as a distractor rather then a visual stimulus we guaranteed that cortical activity cannot be caused by conflicts between two simultaneous visual motion stimuli. Our results revealed that the smooth pursuit task with divided attention led to significantly higher activations bilaterally in the posterior parietal cortex and lateral and medial frontal cortex, presumably containing the parietal, frontal and supplementary eye fields respectively.

Conclusions

The additional cortical activation in these areas is apparently due to the process of dividing attention between the execution of SPEM and the covert tracking of the auditory target. On the other hand, even though attention had to be divided the attentional resources did not seem to be exhausted, since the identification of the direction of the auditory target and the quality of SPEM were unaffected by the congruence between visual and auditory motion stimuli. Finally, we found that this form of task-related attention modulated not only the cortical pursuit network in general but also affected modality specific and supramodal attention regions.