The α7 acetylcholine nicotine receptor is a ligand-gated ion channel that is involved in cognition disorders, schizophrenia, pain and inflammation among other diseases. Therefore, the development of new agents that target this receptor has great significance. Positive allosteric modulators might be advantageous, since they facilitate receptor responses without directly interacting with the agonist binding site. Here we report the search for and further design of new positive allosteric modulators having the relatively simple chalcone structure. From the natural product isoliquiritigenin as starting point, chalcones substituted with hydroxyl groups at defined locations were identified as optimal and specific promoters of α7 nicotinic function. The most potent compound (2,4,2',5'-tetrahydroxychalcone, 111) was further characterized showing its potential as neuroprotective, analgesic and cognitive enhancer, opening the way for future developments around the chalcone structure.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2014.09.039 | DOI Listing |
JAMA Neurol
January 2025
Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Importance: Fall risk and cognitive impairment are prevalent and burdensome in Parkinson disease (PD), requiring efficacious, well-tolerated treatment.
Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of TAK-071, a muscarinic acetylcholine M1 positive allosteric modulator, in participants with PD, increased fall risk, and cognitive impairment.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This phase 2 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover clinical trial was conducted from October 21, 2020, to February 27, 2023, at 19 sites in the US.
J Med Chem
January 2025
Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
The design of dualsteric/bitopic receptor ligands as compounds capable of simultaneously interacting with both the orthosteric and an allosteric binding site has gained importance to achieve enhanced receptor specificity and minimize off-target effects. In this work, we reported the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of compounds, namely, the series, obtained by chemically combining the CB1R ago-positive allosteric modulators (PAM) with the cannabinoid receptors (CBRs) orthosteric agonist . Therefore, compounds were designed as dualsteric/bitopic ligands for CB1R with the aim of obtaining stronger CB1R agonists or ago-PAMs, with improved receptor subtype selectivity and reduction of central side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Molecular Medicine, Brain Signalling Laboratory, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Section for Physiology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Propofol and ketamine are widely used general anaesthetics, but have different effects on consciousness: propofol gives a deeply unconscious state, with little or no dream reports, whereas vivid dreams are often reported after ketamine anaesthesia. Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, while propofol is a γ-aminobutyric-acid (GABAA) receptor positive allosteric modulator, but these mechanisms do not fully explain how these drugs alter consciousness. Most previous in vitro studies of cellular mechanisms of anaesthetics have used brain slices or neurons in a nearly "comatose" state, because no "arousing" neuromodulators were added.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Rep
December 2024
Department of Liver Surgery and Shanghai Cancer Institute, State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:
Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2) is highly expressed in human cancers; however, its physiological relevance under growth signaling remains to be investigated. Here, we show that IMPDH2 serine 122 is phosphorylated by CDK1, and this modification attenuates the catalytic activity of IMPDH2 for IMP oxidation and simultaneously represses its allosteric modulation by purine nucleotides. Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling activation triggers IMPDH2-Ser122 dephosphorylation mediated by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), which is dependent on FGFR3-mediated PPP2R1A-Tyr261 phosphorylation leading to PPP2CA-PPP2R1A-IMPDH2 interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBAY 2413555 is a novel selective and reversible positive allosteric modulator of the type 2 muscarinic acetylcholine (M2) receptor, aimed at enhancing parasympathetic signaling and restoring cardiac autonomic balance for the treatment of heart failure (HF). This study tested the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of this novel therapeutic option. REMOTE-HF was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase Ib dose-titration study with two active arms.
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