An analysis of the beta 2-adrenoceptor selectivity in three series of beta-adrenoceptor agonists

Recent advance on carbamate-based cholinesterase inhibitors as potential multifunctional agents against Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD), as the fourth leading cause of death among the elderly worldwide, has brought enormous challenge to the society. Due to its extremely complex pathogeneses, the development of multi-target directed ligands (MTDLs) becomes the major strategy for combating AD. Carbamate moiety, as an essential building block in the development of MTDLs, exhibits structural similarity to neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) and has piqued extensive attention in discovering multifunctional cholinesterase inhibitors. To date, numerous preclinical studies demonstrate that carbamate-based cholinesterase inhibitors can prominently increase the level of ACh and improve cognition impairments and behavioral deficits, providing a privileged strategy for the treatment of AD. Based on the recent research focus on the novel cholinesterase inhibitors with multiple biofunctions, this review aims at summarizing and discussing the most recent studies excavating the potential carbamate-based MTDLs with cholinesterase inhibition efficacy, to accelerate the pace of pleiotropic cholinesterase inhibitors for coping AD.

Recent progress in the identification of selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders with notable factor of dysfunction in cholinergic system. Low ACh level can be observed in the pathogenesis of AD. Several AChE inhibitors have already been used for clinical treatments. However, other than normal conditions, ACh is mostly hydrolyzed by BuChE in progressed AD. Account for an increased level of BuChE and decreased level of AChE in the late stage of AD, development of selective BuChE inhibitor is of vital importance. Up till now, compounds with various scaffolds have been discovered to selectively inhibit BuChE. Different effective anti-BuChE molecules are concluded in this review.

Beta-adrenoceptor agonists and asthma--100 years of development

Inhaled beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists are by far the most effective and safe bronchodilators currently available. They have not been surpassed by any other bronchodilating principle. The way to this position has been long and started with the first successful treatment of acute, severe asthma with s.c. injections of adrenaline 100 years ago. Over the years, synthetic congeners of adrenaline have been produced and tested for their pharmacological properties. During the first decades, little attention was given airway smooth muscle. The discovery of isoprenaline in 1940 was the first major step towards selective bronchodilation. This compound became a key tool for the classification of adrenoceptors into alpha and beta. Salbutamol and terbutaline were the first to show a significant attenuation of the cardiostimulant effect and confirmed the subdivision of beta-adrenoceptors into beta(1) and beta(2). Much effort was made to eliminate the next dose-limiting side effect, skeletal muscle tremor but in vain. Prolonged duration of action was achieved in three ways: with bambuterol, an orally active carbamate ester prodrug of terbutaline, salmeterol, an inhaled beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonist emerging from a purposeful research project, and formoterol which was found, accidentally, to have a long duration of action when inhaled. Throughout the 20th century, beta-adrenoceptor agonists have been developed and marketed as racemates. The pharmacological activity usually resides in the (R)-enantiomer. Despite claims for the opposite, there is so far no compelling evidence that the presence of the less active (S)-enantiomer is of any harm to the patient. One hundred years of experience of structural modifications of adrenaline has shown that the possibilities to modify the properties of this endogenous prototype appear to be unlimited.

The use of the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation in studies of the β-adrenoceptor adenylate cyclase system

The binding, adenylate cyclase activation, and functional effect of four beta-adrenoceptor agonists were studied in the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation and the results were compared with those obtained earlier in guinea-pig left-heart ventricle (beta 1-adrenoceptors) and soleus muscle (beta 2-adrenoceptors) preparations. The pKi-values of the unselective compounds, isoprenaline and orciprenaline, were in good agreement with those obtained in the heart and soleus muscle. The beta 2-adrenoceptor selective compounds KWD 2026 and terbutaline were bound to two sites, one corresponding to the beta 1-adrenoceptors and the other to the beta 2-adrenoceptors. The pKi-value of isoprenaline was in good agreement with its pKact-value indicating that maximum adenylate cyclase activity is obtained when the occupancy of the receptors is maximal. Further, the relative intrinsic efficacy calculated from the functional effect and receptor occupancy agreed well with the relative maximum adenylate cyclase activation by the agonists which was also found earlier for the guinea-pig heart ventricle and soleus muscle preparations. Relative effects were obtained from both functional experiments and from affinity and adenylate cyclase activating studies. There was good agreement between relative effects obtained in these two ways. It is concluded that the guinea-pig lung parenchyma preparation may be useful for the study of the beta-adrenoceptor adenylate cyclase system.

The Role of Mg2+on the Formation of the Ternary Complex between Agonist, β-Adrenoceptor, and Gs-Protein and an Interpretation of High and Low Affinity Binding of β-Adrenoceptor Agonists

In the absence of GTP or its analogues, the beta-adrenoceptor agonist (H), the receptor (R) and the stimulatory guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein (GS-protein) form a slowly dissociable complex (HRGSGDP). It is presumed that the agonist in this ternary complex is bound to the receptor with high affinity while its binding to the receptor in the HR-complex is of low affinity. We have studied the effect of Mg2+ on the formation of these two complexes by the displacement of (-)-[3H]CGP-12177 with (-)-isoprenaline in cell membranes prepared from guinea-pig lung parenchyma. In the absence of Mg2+, only monophasic displacement curves were obtained with a dissociation constant not differing from that obtained in the presence of Gpp(NH)p and Mg2+. In the presence of Mg2+ and absence of Gpp(NH)p, a shallow binding curve was obtained that fitted a two site model best. One of the dissociation constants agreed well with that obtained in the presence of Gpp(NH)p and Mg2+ but the other one was 27 times smaller. It was concluded that Mg2+ is necessary for the coupling between the HR-complex and the GS-protein. The two dissociation constants obtained in the absence of Gpp(NH)p represent the dissociation constants of the HR- and HRGSGDP-complexes and may correspond to those named KL and KH in the literature. According to our study, there may be no difference in affinity between the agonist and receptor in the HR- and HRGSGDP-complexes. The two dissociation constants obtained in the absence of GTP or its analogues refer to two consecutive reactions.