Publications by authors named "Josep A Ruiz"

Although the selective excitatory amino acid transporter subtype 1 (EAAT1) inhibitor UCPH-101 has become a standard pharmacological tool compound for in vitro and ex vivo studies in the EAAT research field, its inability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier makes it unsuitable for in vivo studies. In the present study, per os (p.o.

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In the present study, we made further investigations on the structure-activity requirements of the selective excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) inhibitor, 2-amino-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-7-(naphthalen-1-yl)-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile (UCPH-101), by exploring 15 different substituents (R(1) ) at the 7-position in combination with eight different substituents (R(2) ) at the 4-position. Among the 63 new analogues synthesized, we identified a number of compounds that unexpectedly displayed inhibitory activities at EAAT1 in light of understanding the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of this inhibitor class extracted from previous studies. Moreover, the nature of the R(1) and R(2) substituents were observed to contribute to the functional properties of the various analogues in additive and non-additive ways.

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The first reported twisted bis-lactam, a racemic Tröger's base (TB) analogue (2), was resolved into its enantiomers on a chiral stationary phase HPLC column. The absolute configuration of (+)-2 was determined to be (R,R)-2 by comparing experimental and calculated vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. The absolute configuration of (-)-2 was determined by comparing experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra.

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Uptake of the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS, (S)-glutamate, is mediated by a family of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAAT). Previously we have explored the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of a series of EAAT1 selective inhibitors, leading to the development of the potent inhibitors UCPH-101 and UCPH-102. In the present study, we set out to improve the solubility properties of these EAAT1 inhibitors with the objective to develop analogs more suited as pharmacological tools for in vivo studies of EAAT1 in terms of their bioavailability.

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