Leteprinim Potassium

Pharmaceutical and agrochemical discovery programs are under considerable pressure to meet increasing global demand and thus require constant innovation. Classical hydrocarbon scaffolds have long assisted in bringing new molecules to the market place, but an obvious omission is that of the Platonic solid cubane. Eaton, however, suggested that this molecule has the potential to act as a benzene bioisostere. Herein, we report the validation of Eaton's hypothesis with cubane derivatives of five molecules that are used clinically or as agrochemicals. Two cubane analogues showed increased bioactivity compared to their benzene counterparts whereas two further analogues displayed equal bioactivity, and the fifth one demonstrated only partial efficacy. Ramifications from this study are best realized by reflecting on the number of bioactive molecules that contain a benzene ring. Substitution with the cubane scaffold where possible could revitalize these systems, and thus expedite much needed lead candidate identification.

Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders and has been associated with a wide range of neuronal structural changes in brain regions. Neotrofin, a neurotrophin agonist, has been demonstrated to exhibit neuroprotection in various in vivo and in vitro studies. The present study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective and ameliorating effects of neotrofin treatment in a rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induced depression. The results showed that CUMS was effective in producing depression-like behavior in rats as indicated by decreased responses in the sucrose preference test, and locomotor activity in the open-field test. Moreover, the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), PSD-95 and synaptophysin were decreased in the amygdala of CUMS rats. Chronic administration of neotrofin (60mg/kg, i.p., 5 weeks) significantly ameliorated all these behavioral and biochemical alterations associated with CUMS induced depression, which demonstrated that the expression changes of BDNF, PSD-95 and synaptophysin were correlated with the depression-like behaviors of CUMS rats. Taken together, the results of the present study highlight that neotrofin exhibits neuroprotective and antidepressant-like effects against CUMS induced depression, and suggest a possible mechanism for this protection via changes in synaptic plasticity within the amygdala. These findings reveal the therapeutic potential of neotrofin for use in clinical trials in the treatment of neuronal deterioration in depression.