Medicinal chemistry
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Medicinal chemistry · Mar 2014
Pharmacological properties of novel cyclic pentapeptides with µ-opioid receptor agonist activity.
In our previous paper we have reported the synthesis and biological activity of a cyclic analog, Tyr-c(D-Lys- Phe-Phe-Asp)-NH2, based on endomorphin-2 (EM-2) structure. This analog displayed high affinity for the µ-opioid receptor, was much more stable than EM-2 in rat brain homogenate and showed remarkable antinociceptive activity after intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection. Even more importantly, the cyclic analog elicited weak analgesia also after peripheral administration, giving evidence that it was able to cross, at least to some extent, the blood-brain barrier (BBB). ⋯ Unfortunately, the increase of lipophilicity was achieved at the expense of water solubility. The analog with D-2-Nal residue showed strong analgesic effect when given i.c.v. but could not be tested after intravenous (i.v.) administration where higher concentrations of the compound are required. However, this analog showed inhibitory effect on gastrointestinal (GI) motility in vivo, providing an interesting approach to the development of peripherally restricted agents that could be useful for studying gastrointestinal disorders in animal models.