Taken together, these novel findings suggest that negative modulation of GABA(A) α5 receptors may represent an attractive treatment option for the cognitive impairments, and potentially positive symptoms, associated with schizophrenia.

GABA A receptors (GABA A Rs) are ligand gated chloride ion channels that mediate overall inhibitory signaling in the CNS. A detailed understanding of their structure is important to gain insights in e.g. ligand binding and functional properties of this pharmaceutically important target. Homology modeling is a necessary tool in this regard because experimentally determined structures are lacking. Here we present an exhaustive approach for creating a high quality model of the α 1 β 2 γ 2 subtype of the GABA A R ligand binding domain, and we demonstrate its usefulness in understanding details of orthosteric ligand binding.The model was constructed by using multiple templates and by incorporation of knowledge from biochemical/pharmacological experiments. It was validated on the basis of objective energy functions, its ability to account for available residue specific information, and its stability in molecular dynamics (MD) compared to that of two homologous crystal structures. We then combined the model with extensive structure-activity relationships available from two homologous series of orthosteric GABA A R antagonists to create a detailed hypothesis for their binding modes. Excellent agreement with key experimental data was found, including the ability of the model to accommodate and explain a previously developed pharmacophore model. A coupling to agonist binding was thereby established and discussed in relation to activation mechanisms.Our results highlight the importance of critical evaluation and optimization of each step in the homology modeling process. The approach taken here can greatly aid in increasing the understanding of GABA A Rs and related receptors where structural insight is limited and reliable models are difficult to obtain.

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The hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a central transcription factor involved in the cellular and molecular adaptation to hypoxia and low glucose supply. The level of HIF-1 is to a large degree regulated by the HIF prolyl hydroxylase enzymes (HPHs) belonging to the Fe(II) and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase superfamily. In the present study, we compared competitive and noncompetitive HPH-inhibitor compounds in two different cell types (SH-SY5Y and PC12). Although the competitive HPH-inhibitor compounds were found to be pharmacologically more potent than the non-competitive compounds at inhibiting HPH2 and HPH1, this was not translated into the cellular effects of the compounds, where the non-competitive inhibitors were actually more potent than the competitive in stabilizing and translocatingHIF1αto the nucleus (quantified with Cellomics ArrayScan technology). This could be explained by the high cellular concentrations of the cofactor 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) as the competitive inhibitors act by binding to the 2-OG site of the HPH enzymes. Both competitive and non-competitive HPH inhibitors protected the cells against 6-OHDA induced oxidative stress. In addition, the protective effect of a specific HPH inhibitor was partially preserved when the cells were serum starved and exposed to 2-deoxyglucose, an inhibitor of glycolysis, indicating that other processes than restoring energy supply could be important for the HIF-mediated cytoprotection.

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