A novel serine racemase inhibitor suppresses neuronal over-activation in vivo

Publication date: Available online 11 May 2017
Source:Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
Author(s): Hisashi Mori, Ryogo Wada, Satoyuki Takahara, Yoshikazu Horino, Hironori Izumi, Tetsuya Ishimoto, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Mineyuki Mizuguchi, Takayuki Obita, Hiroaki Gouda, Shuichi Hirono, Naoki Toyooka
Serine racemase (SRR) is an enzyme that produces D-serine from L-serine. D-Serine acts as an endogenous coagonist of NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDARs), which regulate many physiological functions. Over-activation of NMDARs induces excitotoxicity, which is observed in many neurodegenerative disorders and epilepsy states. In our previous works on the generation of SRR gene knockout (Srr-KO) mice and its protective effects against NMDA- and Aβ peptide-induced neurodegeneration, we hypothesized that the regulation of NMDARs' over-activation by inhibition of SRR activity is one such therapeutic strategy to combat these disease states. In the previous study, we performed in silico screening to identify four compounds with inhibitory activities against recombinant SRR. Here, we synthesized 21 derivatives of candidate 1, one of four hit compounds, and performed screening by in vitro evaluations. The derivative 13J showed a significantly lower IC50 value in vitro, and suppressed neuronal over-activation in vivo.

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