Cyclic enkephalin analogues containing alpha-amino-beta-mercapto-beta,beta-pentamethylenepropionic acid at positions 2 or 5

Peptidomimetics and Their Applications for Opioid Peptide Drug Discovery

Despite various advantages, opioid peptides have been limited in their therapeutic uses due to the main drawbacks in metabolic stability, blood-brain barrier permeability, and bioavailability. Therefore, extensive studies have focused on overcoming the problems and optimizing the therapeutic potential. Currently, numerous peptide-based drugs are being marketed thanks to new synthetic strategies for optimizing metabolism and alternative routes of administration. This tutorial review briefly introduces the history and role of natural opioid peptides and highlights the key findings on their structure-activity relationships for the opioid receptors. It discusses details on opioid peptidomimetics applied to develop therapeutic candidates for the treatment of pain from the pharmacological and structural points of view. The main focus is the current status of various mimetic tools and the successful applications summarized in tables and figures.

On-Demand Complex Peptide Synthesis: An Aspirational (and Elusive?) Goal for Peptide Synthesis

Peptide synthesis is a truly interdisciplinary tool, familiar to a broad group of scientists who do not otherwise overlap scientifically. For this reason, some may perceive even complex peptide synthesis to be a "solved problem", while others might argue that immense opportunity remains untapped or simply inaccessible. At the extreme of complexity, what might a concise assessment of the state-of-the-art in peptide synthesis look like? As one of the most practiced forms of synthetic chemistry by chemists and non-chemists alike, what restrictions remain that constrain access to chemical space? Using popular terminology, what forms of peptide synthesis are appropriately termed "on-demand"? The purpose of this Perspective is to appraise synthetic access to complex peptides, particularly those containing unnatural α-amino amides. Several case studies in complex peptide synthesis are summarized here, each selected to characterize the challenges attendant to unnatural α-amino amide synthesis. As peptidic molecules find increasing value in therapeutic development, especially in clinical applications, their impact will ultimately be determined by efficient preparative methods.

Interaction of opioid peptides and other drugs with multiple delta ncx binding sites in rat brain: further evidence for heterogeneity

Recent pharmacological data strongly support the hypothesis of delta receptor subtypes as mediators of both supraspinal and spinal antinociception (delta 1 and delta 2 receptors). In vitro ligand binding data, which are fully supportive of the in vivo data, are still lacking. A previous study indicated that [3H][D-Ala2,D-Leu5]enkephalin labels two binding sites in membranes depleted of mu binding sites by pretreatment with the site-directed acylating agent, 2-(p-ethoxybenzyl)-1-diethylaminoethyl-5-isothiocyanatobenzimid azole-HCI (BIT). The main goal of the present study was to develop a ligand-selectivity profile of the two delta ncx binding sites. The data indicated that naltrindole and oxymorphindole were relatively selective for site 1 (20-fold). [D-Ser2,Thr6]Enkephalin and deltorphin-II were only 2.7-fold and 2.2-fold selective for site 1. [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]Enkephalin and deltorphin-I were 80-fold and 38-fold selective for site 2. 3-Iodo-Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-D-Leu was 52-fold selective for site 1. Morphine had moderate affinity for site 1 (Ki = 16 nM), and was about 11-fold selective for site 1. Thus, of the 10 drugs studied, only DPDPE and DELT-I were selective for site 2. Viewed collectively with other data, it is likely that the delta 1 receptor and the delta ncx binding site are synonymous.

Differentiation between rat brain and mouse vas deferens delta opioid receptors

Certain enkephalin analogues, including those which contain the conformationally restricted amino acid E-(2R,3S)-cyclopropylphenylalanine [2R,3S)-delta E Phe), have been shown to have high affinity for brain delta opioid receptors but are much less active in mouse vas deferens bioassays. To investigate whether there are differences between delta opioid receptors in brain and mouse was deferens, the ability of a selective delta opioid compound, [D-Pen2,pCl-Phe4,D-Pen5]enkephalin (pCl-DPDPE), and [D-Ala2,(2R,3S)-delta E Phe4,Leu5]enkephalin methyl ester (CP-OMe), to inhibit [3H]pCl-DPDPE binding in both rat brain and mouse vas deferens were measured. pCl-DPDPE recognized brain and mouse vas deferens binding sites with equal affinity, however, CP-OMe showed 33 fold lower affinity in mouse vas deferens compared to brain. This suggests that mouse vas deferens delta opioid receptors may be distinct from brain delta opioid receptors.