Research Article |
Corresponding author: Maria O. Skripka ( marusyaskripka@mail.ru ) Academic editor: Mikhail Korokin
© 2022 Dmitry S. Yakovlev, Pavel M. Vassiliev, Yana V. Agatsarskaya, Anastasia A. Brigadirova, Kira T. Sultanova, Maria O. Skripka, Alexander A. Spasov, Konstantin V. Savateev, Vladimir L. Rusinov, Dmitriy V. Maltsev.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Yakovlev DS, Vassiliev PM, Agatsarskaya YV, Brigadirova AA, Sultanova KT, Skripka MO, Spasov AA, Savateev KV, Rusinov VL, Maltsev DV (2022) Searching for novel antagonists of adenosine A1 receptors among azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine nitro derivatives. Research Results in Pharmacology 8(2): 69-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/rrpharmacology.8.77854
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Introduction: Ligands of adenosine A1Rs are potential candidates for the development of drugs for the treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, angina pectoris, hypertriglyceridemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, neuropathic pain, and heart failure. At the same time, there is a deficiency of drugs that can regulate the functions of A1 receptors. A number of A1-antagonists are at the various stages of clinical trials; other drugs are not very selective or are characterized by an insufficient breadth of their therapeutic action. Therefore, the search for new medicinal compounds for the prevention and treatment of A1-depended diseases among nitro derivatives of tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine and 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine is of scientific interest.
Materials and methods: The search for active compounds was carried out by in silico and in vitro methods. At the first stage, a computer forecast of A1-antagonistic activity was carried out using the Microcosm BioS software. At the second stage, the prediction results were verified in vitro in a model of isolated mouse atria.
Results and discussion: Based on the results of the prediction by the method of maximum similarity to standards, the most active compounds III, VIII, and XVII were selected. After testing the prediction results by the isolated atria method, the compound VIII was characterized by A1-blocking effect in vitro at a concentration of 10 μmol/L.
Conclusion: The most promising compound with A1-blocking effect in vitro was identified; it is a derivative of tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine under the code of VIII. It is of interest for us for further in-depth study of its pharmacological properties.
adenosine 1 type receptor, isolated tissue, Microcosm Bios, tetrazolo[1,5- a]pyrimidine, 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine.
Adenosine receptors (ARs) are targets for the development of new methods of pharmacological correction of various diseases (Manjunath et al. 2009;
Caffeine causes most of its biological effects via antagonizing all types of ARs. When acting as nonselective AR antagonist (
Single administration of Rolofylline in patients with heart failure and impaired renal function produced a consistently increased diuresis and natriuresis without compromising renal function (
In this regard, this study is focused on continuing the search for new A1R antagonists among pyrimidine derivatives as possible drug candidates for subsequent use in medical practice. Analysis of the chemical structure of known A1-antagonists (Tonapofylline and Rolofylline are derivatives of imidazopyrimidines and Derenofylline is pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine) suggests a high prospect of searching for potential A1R antagonists among pyrimidine derivatives. The current investigation is aimed to study the A1R antagonism potential of earlier synthesized nitro derivatives of tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine (
At the first stage, a database was formed in silico on the structure of the reference ligands of adenosine A1 receptors studied by the world scientific community using the search engines IUPHAR, Tocris, SelleckChem. Thus, 20 selective A1 adenosine receptor antagonists were selected. Then, a database was formed on the structure of 25 new chemical compounds, derivatives of azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine. The data on the structure of 25 new compounds were collected and generated using ChemFinder 9.0, a ChemOffice 9.0 software package (URL: http://www.cambridgesoft.com/12).
The processing of the data set and their translation into QL language descriptors were carried out using the utilities of the IT Microcosm software package; the following modules were used: ActUtil, TranQL2, and MakeData (
The most active substances according to in silico forecast were tested for their A1-antagonistic activity with isolated tissue technique in vitro.
In this study, the prediction of affinity for adenosine A1 receptors was carried out using the Microcosm BioS v.18.1.9 system, which includes the original QSAR database containing verified, structured and processed information on the chemical structure and activity level of the known compounds studied by the world scientific community at various types of biological activity.
The specified QSAR database was formed outside the scope of this study, using information obtained from three well-known international search engines: ChEMBL (URL: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/), BindingDB (URL: https://www.bindingdb.org/) and PubChem (URL: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). The primary dataset was checked for correct chemical structural formulas, so incorrect and duplicate entries were removed from it.
The experiments were carried out on 30 white outbred mice m=18–30 g, obtained from the Rappolovo Nursery, Leningrad region (Russia). The animals were kept in a vivarium with a natural light regimen on a standard diet of laboratory animals, with access to food and water ad libitum. The vivarium maintained standard conditions in accordance with Order No. 51 of August 29, 2014 of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation “On Approval of Sanitary Regulations 2.2.1.3218-14 ”Sanitary and Epidemiological Requirements for Managing, Equipping and Maintaining Experimental Biological Clinics (Vivariums)” on a special hygienic wood filler (LLC Production Complex GlavRezerv). Twelve hours before the start of the experiment, the animals were deprived of access to food, while access to water remained free. The experimental procedures on animals were carried out in accordance with the Local Ethics Committee of Volgograd State Medical University, Volgograd, Russia (Minutes No. IRB 00005839 IORG 0004900 (OHRP)). All the experiments were carried out in accordance with “The Guidelines for Conducting Preclinical Studies of Drugs” (
After cervical dislocation of the rodents, the heart was removed and both atria were isolated. The isolated samples of the left and right atria were fixed in a 20 ml bath, filled with Krebs-Henseleit nutrient solution with constant oxygenation of 95% O2 -5% CO2 and a temperature of 37 °C in a 4-channel system for maintaining the vital functions of isolated tissues TISSUEBATH4 (Biopac Systems, Inc., USA). The isolated atria were fixed on an isometric sensor TSD125C with a sensitivity range of 0–50 g at an isometric load of 1 g. The organ was left for adaptation for 45–60 min before the start of the experiment. During the adaptation period and the subsequent experiment, the buffer solution in the bath was replaced every 10–15 min.
The A1-antagonistic activity of novel nitro derivatives of azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines was investigated by addition of the tested compound (200 μl) 3 min before the introduction of adenosine (200 μl) with an exposure for 30 s before a registered decrease in chronotropism of atria, working in their own rhythm (without stimulation). Between each administration of adenosine, the isolated atrial sample was left to relax for at least 10–15 min to return the atrial chronotropism to the initial level. The reference drug was caffeine at an equimolar concentration of 10 μmol/L. The A1-antagonistic effect of the test substances and the control sample was assessed by a degree of suppression of adenosine-induced decrease in chronotropism of the isolated atrial tissue in comparison with the effect of adenosine obtained in control measurements (Δ%).
Contractions of isolated atria were recorded using AcqKnowledge 4.0 software (Biopac Systems, Inc., USA). The number of isolated atria contractions was measured over a 30-second interval with subsequent calculation of the heart rate. The amount of atrial chronotropism suppression (Δ%) was calculated by the formula:
,
where ΔHRcontrol – the difference between the baseline heart rate and the heart rate calculated after adenosine administration; ΔHRtreated – the difference between the baseline heart rate and the heart rate calculated after adenosine administration in mice under the influence of the test compounds.
Statistical analysis of the obtained data was carried out in the GraphPad Prism 6.0 software using the Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc Dunn’s test. The data are presented as mean ± standard error of mean (M±SEM). The p<0.05 values were considered statistically significant.
On this basis, the QSAR database was calculated using six specially created programs, containing the QL-descriptor representation of chemical structural information, in the form of working files in the format developed earlier when creating the IT Microcosm package (
The QSAR database obtained in this way includes information on the structure of 625888 known chemical compounds tested by world scientific studies for 11509 different types of biological activity, with details of a type of biotarget, test organism and the measured activity indicator. In total, this database contains information on 6016 biotargets, on 325 species of test organisms, indicating the quantitative values of activity for 4 different indicators.
The specified QSAR base is part of the Microcosm BioS system, designed to predict the spectrum of targeted biological activity of new chemical compounds.
The QSAR-base of the Microcosm Bios v18.1.9 system contains information on the structure and level of affinity for the adenosine A1 receptor of 7455 compounds studied in experimental tests on five different organisms, including data for 5373 compounds for Homo sapiens. The calculation of the predicted spectrum of targeted biological activity of new chemical compounds was carried out using the original Microcosm BioS system by the method of maximum similarity to standards. The well-known compounds studied by the world scientific community for A1-antagonistic activity were used as standards. Information about these compounds was accumulated in the above-described Microcosm BioS QSAR database.
The forecast results were saved as a tab-delimited text file; part of the primary listing is shown in Fig.
The beginning of listing the results of the spectrum prediction of A1-antagonistic activity levels in the Microcosm BioS v.18.1.9 system.
The final results of the prediction in Microcosm BioS of new compounds adenosine A1 receptor affinity are shown in Table
Prediction of adenosine A1 receptor affinity by the method of maximum similarity to standards
Number | Code | Ind | Ind20% | IndMed |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | III | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2 |
2 | VIII | 1.2 | 1.3 | 2 |
3 | XVII | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1 |
4 | XI | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1 |
5 | X | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1 |
6 | IX | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1 |
7 | XII | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1 |
8 | 1D | -0.9 | -1.1 | -2 |
9 | II | -1.8 | -2.0 | -2 |
10 | XIV | -1.9 | -2.1 | -2 |
11 | XIII | -1.1 | -1.3 | -2 |
12 | VI | -1.4 | -1.6 | -2 |
13 | IV | -2.5 | -2.5 | -3 |
14 | VII | -1.6 | -1.9 | -3 |
15 | 1G | -1.9 | -2.0 | -3 |
16 | I | -2.0 | -2.4 | -4 |
17 | V | -2.9 | -3.1 | -4 |
18 | 1A | -2.8 | -3.0 | -4 |
19 | 1E | -3.0 | -3.3 | -4 |
20 | XVI | -2.5 | -2.9 | -4 |
21 | XV | -3.7 | -3.9 | -4 |
22 | 1B | -3.9 | -4.4 | -5 |
23 | 1C | -3.2 | -3.9 | -5 |
24 | 1H | -4.1 | -4.3 | -5 |
25 | 1F | -4.5 | -4.9 | -5 |
In total, according to the prediction data by the method of maximum structural similarity to the standards, 7 compounds (highlighted in color) are promising for studying their adenosine A1 receptor affinity, having three non-negative averaged estimates in total. The most interesting for experimental testing are 3 compounds (highlighted in green), in which all three calculated scores are at least 2 points, which corresponds to a sufficiently high activity.
The results of the study of A1-antagonistic activity of 6 nitro derivatives of tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine and 1 derivative of 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine are shown in Table
A1-inhibitory activity of compounds under study (at a concentration of 10 μmol/L)
Compound | R1 | Inhibition of adenosine negative chronotropic effect, Δ% (M±SEM) |
---|---|---|
Comparison drug | ||
Caffeine |
|
60.5±3.7 |
derivatives of 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine |
||
III |
|
40.1±3.0 |
derivatives of tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine |
||
VIII |
|
45.9±10.7 |
IX |
|
0.0±0.0* |
X |
|
10.5±3.0* |
XI |
|
38.3±5.6 |
XII |
|
0.0±0.0* |
XVII |
|
28.1±3.0 |
Only one of the seven tested compounds was characterized by an A1-blocking effect in vitro at a concentration of 10 μmol/L: VIII. It is confirmed by more than 45% suppression relative to the control measurements, and, compared to the reference drug caffeine, A1-blocking effect of compounds was inferior by 1.3 times. Compounds XII and IX did not show any A1-antagonistic activity. Derivative of 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine III was inferior to caffeine in terms of its antagonistic activity against A1-adenosine receptors by 1.5 times.
In the course of the study, in silico prediction of adenosine A1 receptor affinity of 25 new compounds was made using the method of maximum structural similarity to the reference standards. As a result of the prediction, 7 promising compounds with the expected moderate or high A1-antagonistic activity were identified, which were recommended for experimental studies. Of these, three compounds were recommended to be tested for their A1-antagonistic activity as a priority.
Seven new nitro derivatives of azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines were tested for A1-antagonistic activity in vitro. The results of in silico prediction of activity of the compounds under study were confirmed for compound VIII. In terms of isolated atria technique, the inhibition of adenosine negative chronotropic effect was about 45%, under the influence of this substance. So, compound VIII is of interest for us for further in-depth study of its pharmacological properties.
The authors declare no conflict of interests.
The reported study was partially funded by the Government of Volgograd region, Agreement No. 6 dated 10.12.2020.
Dmitriy S. Yakovlev, Doctor Habil. of Medical Sciences, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University; Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: dypharm@list.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8980-6016. The author defined the idea of research and developed a research plan.
Pavel M. Vassiliev, Doctor Habil. of Medical Sciences, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: pvassiliev@mail.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8188-5052. The author consulted on the research idea.
Yana V. Agatsarskaya, PhD in Pharmacology, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University ; Junior Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: agatsarskaya.i@gmail.com, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7772-7318. The author took part in conducting experimental work.
Anastasia A. Brigadirova, PhD in Pharmacology, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University; Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: a.brigadirova@gmail.com, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0957-7087. The author took part in conducting experimental work and writing the original draft.
Kira T. Sultanova, PhD in Pharmacology, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University; Junior Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: sultanova.pharma@gmail.com, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9846-8335. The author took part in conducting experimental work.
Maria O. Skripka, PhD student, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University; Junior Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: rete.mirabile.renis@gmail.com, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4173-7143. The author took part in analysis of the material and editing the text of the article.
Alexander A. Spasov, Doctor Habil. of Medical Sciences, Full Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University,; Head of Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: aspasov@mail.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7185-4826. The author consulted on the research idea, concept and design.
Konstantin V. Savateev, PhD in Chemistry, research fellow, Department of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technology, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, Russia; e-mail: i-krafttt@yandex.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6040-5155. The author took part in the chemical synthesis of the studied azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines.
Vladimir L. Rusinov, Doctor Habil. of Chemical Sciences, Full Professor, Сorresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technology, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, Russia; e-mail: v.l.rusinov@urfu.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1705-4078. The author consulted on the research idea, concept and design.
Dmitriy V. Maltsev, PhD in Pharmacology, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology and Bioinformatics, Volgograd State Medical University; Researcher, Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, Volgograd Medical Research Center, Volgograd, Russia; e-mail: maltsevdmitriy@rambler.ru, ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2005-6621. The author took part in conducting experimental work and analysis of the material.