TL;DR: Compound 8q demonstrated in vivo proof of concept in an animal behavior model where known antipsychotics are active, supporting the development of new antipsychotic based on the NMDA hypofunction model for schizophrenia.
Abstract: This report describes the discovery of the first centrally active allosteric modulators of the metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5). Appropriately substituted N-(1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)benzamides (e.g., 8) have been identified as a novel class of potent positive allosteric modulators of mGluR5 that potentiate the response to glutamate. An iterative analogue library synthesis approach provided potentiators with excellent potency and selectivity for mGluR5 (vs mGluRs 1-4, 7, 8). Compound 8q demonstrated in vivo proof of concept in an animal behavior model where known antipsychotics are active, supporting the development of new antipsychotics based on the NMDA hypofunction model for schizophrenia.
TL;DR: It is found that allosteric potentiation of mGluR5 increases the effect of threshold agonist concentrations in native systems and potentiated NMDA receptor currents in hippocampal slices induced by threshold levels of DHPG, whereas having no effect on these currents by itself.
Abstract: We found that N-[4-chloro-2-[(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2H-isoindol-2-yl)methyl]phenyl]-2-hydroxybenzamide (CPPHA), is a potent and selective positive allosteric modulator of the metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5). CPPHA alone had no agonist activity and acted as a selective positive allosteric modulator of human and rat mGluR5. CPPHA potentiated threshold responses to glutamate in fluorometric Ca(2+) assays 7- to 8-fold with EC(50) values in the 400 to 800 nM range, and at 10 microM shifted mGluR5 agonist concentration-response curves to glutamate, quisqualate, and (R,S)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) 4- to 7-fold to the left. The only effect of CPPHA on other mGluRs was weak inhibition of mGluR4 and 8. Neither CPPHA nor the previously described 3,3'-difluorobenzaldazine (DFB) affected [(3)H]quisqualate binding to mGluR5, but although DFB partially competed for [(3)H]3-methoxy-5-(2-pyridinylethynyl)pyridine binding, CPPHA had no effect on the binding of this 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)-pyridine analog to mGluR5. Although the binding sites for the two classes of allosteric modulators seem to be different, these different allosteric sites can modulate functionally and mechanistically similar allosteric effects. In electrophysiological studies of brain slice preparations, it had been previously shown that activation of mGluR5 receptors by agonists increased N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor currents in the CA1 region of hippocampal slices. We found that CPPHA (10 microM) potentiated NMDA receptor currents in hippocampal slices induced by threshold levels of DHPG, whereas having no effect on these currents by itself. Similarly, 10 microM CPPHA also potentiated mGluR5-mediated DHPG-induced depolarization of rat subthalamic nucleus neurons. These results demonstrate that allosteric potentiation of mGluR5 increases the effect of threshold agonist concentrations in native systems.