No abstract

P arkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurologicaldisease that affects ∼1% of the population over the age of 65. 1 It is characterized by progressive impairment in motor function that is often accompanied by disturbances in mood and cognitive function. The majority of motor impairments of PD are caused by a gradual loss of dopamine (DA) producing neurons in the ventral midbrain and concomitant loss of DA input to forebrain (striatal) motor structures. 2,3 The loss of DA input to the neostriatum leads to dysregulation of striatal function and the classic motor symptoms of PD, such as resting tremor, muscular rigidity, and bradykinesia.The majority of treatments aim to restore dopamine signaling and thereby reduce the severity of the motor symptoms. Dopamine replacement therapy using L-DOPA, the precursor to dopamine, remains the gold-standard treatment for PD. Other approaches include inhibition of DA turnover using monoamine oxidase type B (MAO-B) inhibitors, 4 catechol O-methyl-transferase (COMT) inhibitors, 5 and inhibition of dopamine reuptake 6 or direct agonists 7 of postsynaptic dopamine receptors. Although the dopamine targeted therapies work well to address the PD related motor disturbances, they all produce undesirable side effects (dyskinesia, hallucinations, onÀoff effects) that become more severe and problematic with continued treatment. Also, the aforementioned therapies typically show reduced efficacy as motor functions deteriorate and the disease progresses. Moreover, these treatments do not alter disease progression and do not address the mood, postural instability, or cognitive disturbances that frequently accompany PD.The dopamine replacement agents have significant limitations which influenced researchers to find nondopamine based treatments for PD. One nondopaminergic approach that has received considerable attention is modulation of adenosine receptors which is the topic highlighted in this Review. 8 Adenosine is a neuromodulator that coordinates responses to dopamine and other neurotransmitters in areas of the brain that are responsible for motor function, mood, and learning and memory. 9 Adenosine comprises four distinct receptor subtypes designated A 1 , A 2A , A 2B , and A 3 belonging to the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. 10 Adenosine A 1 and A 3 receptors are coupled to inhibitory G proteins, while A 2A and A 2B receptors are coupled to stimulatory G proteins. Autoradiography studies in rodents showed that the greatest densities of A 2A receptors are found in the striatum 11 which closely matches the distribution in humans based on PET imaging. 12 As described above, loss of dopamine input into the neostriatum is a hallmark of PD and causes many of the cardinal motor symptoms of this disorder. In the striatum adenosine A 2A receptors colocalize and physically associate with dopamine D 2 receptors. ABSTRACT: This Review summarizes and updates the work on adenosine A 2A receptor antagonists for Parkinson's disease from 2006 to the present. There have been numerou...

No abstract

The design and characterization of two, dual adenosine A(2A)/A(1) receptor antagonists in several animal models of Parkinson's disease is described. Compound 1 was previously reported as a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease. Further characterization of 1 revealed that it was metabolized to reactive intermediates that caused the genotoxicity of 1 in the Ames and mouse lymphoma L51784 assays. The identification of the metabolites enabled the preparation of two optimized compounds 13 and 14 that were devoid of the metabolic liabilities associated with 1. Compounds 13 and 14 are potent dual A(2A)/A(1) receptor antagonists that have excellent activity, after oral administration, across a number of animal models of Parkinson's disease including mouse and rat models of haloperidol-induced catalepsy, mouse and rat models of reserpine-induced akinesia, and the rat 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion model of drug-induced rotation.

Adenosine A2A antagonists are believed to have therapeutic potential in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). We have characterized the dual adenosine A2A/A1 receptor antagonist JNJ-40255293 (2-amino-8-[2-(4-morpholinyl)ethoxy]-4-phenyl-5H-indeno[1,2-d]pyrimidin-5-one). JNJ-40255293 was a high-affinity (7.5 nM) antagonist at the human A2A receptor with 7-fold in vitro selectivity versus the human A1 receptor. A similar A2A:A1 selectivity was seen in vivo (ED50's of 0.21 and 2.1 mg/kg p.o. for occupancy of rat brain A2A and A1 receptors, respectively). The plasma EC50 for occupancy of rat brain A2A receptors was 13 ng/mL. In sleep-wake encephalographic (EEG) studies, JNJ-40255293 dose-dependently enhanced a consolidated waking associated with a subsequent delayed compensatory sleep (minimum effective dose: 0.63 mg/kg p.o.). As measured by microdialysis, JNJ-40255293 did not affect dopamine and noradrenaline release in the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. However, it was able to reverse effects (catalepsy, hypolocomotion, and conditioned avoidance impairment in rats; hypolocomotion in mice) produced by the dopamine D2 antagonist haloperidol. The compound also potentiated the agitation induced by the dopamine agonist apomorphine. JNJ-40255293 also reversed hypolocomotion produced by the dopamine-depleting agent reserpine and potentiated the effects of l-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) in rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesions of the nigro-striatal pathway, an animal model of Parkinson's disease. Extrapolating from the rat receptor occupancy dose-response curve, the occupancy required to produce these various effects in rats was generally in the range of 60-90%. The findings support the continued research and development of A2A antagonists as potential treatments for PD.

The in vivo characterization of a dual adenosine A(2A)/A(1) receptor antagonist in several animal models of Parkinson's disease is described. Discovery and scale-up syntheses of compound 1 are described in detail, highlighting optimization steps that increased the overall yield of 1 from 10.0% to 30.5%. Compound 1 is a potent A(2A)/A(1) receptor antagonist in vitro (A(2A) K(i) = 4.1 nM; A(1) K(i) = 17.0 nM) that has excellent activity, after oral administration, across a number of animal models of Parkinson's disease including mouse and rat models of haloperidol-induced catalepsy, mouse model of reserpine-induced akinesia, rat 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion model of drug-induced rotation, and MPTP-treated non-human primate model.

Extensive cyclizations in hydrocarbon and polar solvents demonstrate a profound solvent sensitivity for intramolecular nitrile anion alkylations. S(N)i cyclizations enforce very precise steric constraints in the transition state, allowing correlation of the cyclization stereochemistry with the orbital orientation of the nitrile anion. Collectively the cyclizations suggest a continuum of nitrile anion transition states, varying from planar to fully pyramidal, that selectively cyclize to cis- and trans-decalins, respectively.

2-Amino-4-phenyl-8-pyrrolidin-1-ylmethyl-indeno[1,2-d]pyrimidin-5-one (1) is a novel and potent selective dual A(2A)/A(1) adenosine receptor antagonist from the arylindenopyrimidine series that was determined to be genotoxic in both the Ames and Mouse Lymphoma L5178Y assays only following metabolic activation. Compound 1 was identified as a frame-shift mutagen in Salmonella typhimurium tester strain TA1537 as indicated by a significant dose-dependent increase in revertant colonies as compared to the vehicle control. The metabolic activation-dependent irreversible covalent binding of radioactivity to DNA, recovery of 1 and its enamine metabolite from acid hydrolysis of covalently modified DNA, and protection of covalent binding to DNA by both cyanide ion and methoxylamine suggest that the frame-shift mutation in TA1537 strain involved covalent binding instead of simple intercalation to DNA. Compound 1 was bioactivated to endocyclic iminium ion, aldehyde, epoxide, and α,β-unsaturated keto reactive intermediates from the detection of cyano, oxime, and glutathione conjugates by data-dependent high resolution accurate mass measurements. Collision-induced dissociation of these conjugates provided evidence for bioactivation of the pyrrolidine ring of 1. The epoxide and α,β-unsaturated keto reactive intermediates were unlikely to cause the genotoxicity of 1 because the formation of their glutathione adducts did not ameliorate the binding of compound related material to DNA. Instead, the endocyclic iminium ions and amino aldehydes were likely candidates responsible for genotoxicity based on, first, the protection afforded by both cyanide ion and methoxylamine, which reduced the potential to form covalent adducts with DNA, and, second, analogues of 1 designed with low probability to form these reactive intermediates were not genotoxic. It was concluded that 1 also had the potential to be mutagenic in humans based on observing the endocyclic iminium ion following incubation with a human liver S9 preparation and the commensurate detection of DNA adducts. An understanding of this genotoxicity mechanism supported an evidence-based approach to selectively modify the structure of 1 which resulted in analogues being synthesized that were devoid of a genotoxic liability. In addition, potency and selectivity against both adenosine A(2A) and A(1) receptors were maintained.