Pharmacological study of new compounds acting as regulators of 18-kda translocator protein ligands

Abstract

The interaction of new original l-arylpyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-3-carboxamide derivatives with mitochondrial translocator protein (MTP) 18 kDa has been studied by radioligand binding assay. Compounds GML-1 (Ki = 5.2 × 10-8 M) and GML-3 (Ki = 5.3 × 10-7 M) exhibit high binding affinity for MTP. GML-1 and GML-3 in a dose range of 0.1-1 mg/kg (i.p.) demonstrated anxiolytic-like effects in the elevated plus-maze test in CD-I mice, which were blocked by the MTP selective antagonist PK11195. The data obtained on the molecular target, anxiolytic-like effects and low toxicity GML-1 and GML-3 suggest that these compounds are promising for further investigation as anxiolytics.