Novel Allosteric Ligands of γ-Aminobutyric Acid Transporter 1 (GAT1) by MS Based Screening of Pseudostatic Hydrazone Libraries

J Med Chem. 2018 Nov 21;61(22):10310-10332. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01602. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Abstract

This study describes the screening of dynamic combinatorial libraries based on nipecotic acid as core structure with substituents attached to the 5- instead of the common 1-position for the search of novel inhibitors of the GABA transporter GAT1. The generated pseudostatic hydrazone libraries included a total of nearly 900 compounds and were screened for their binding affinities toward GAT1 in competitive mass spectrometry (MS) based Binding Assays. Characterization of the hydrazones with the highest affinities (with cis-configured rac-16gf bearing a 5-(1-naphthyl)furan-2-yl residue and a four atom spacer being the most potent) in binding and uptake experiments revealed an allosteric interaction at GAT1, which was not reported for any other nipecotic acid derivative up to now. Therefore, the herein introduced 5-substituted nipecotic acid derivatives could serve as valuable tools for investigations of allosterically modulated GABA transport mediated by GAT1 and furthermore as starting point for a new class of GAT1 inhibitors.

MeSH terms

  • Aldehydes / chemistry
  • Allosteric Regulation
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • GABA Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / chemistry
  • GABA Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Hydrazones / chemistry*
  • Hydrazones / metabolism*
  • Ligands
  • Mass Spectrometry*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Protein Conformation

Substances

  • Aldehydes
  • GABA Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Hydrazones
  • Ligands