CNS Drug Discovery & Therapy (Track)



P2Y12 RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS: A NEW APPROACH FOR THE TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATORY AND NEUROPATHIC PAIN

Beata Sperlagh

Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology Institute of Experimental Medicine Hungarian Academy of Sciences H-1083 Budapest Szigony u. 43 Hungary

Abstract:

P2Y12 receptor (P2Y12R) antagonists, such as clopidogrel, are widely used antithromobotic drugs in the clinical practice, which became blockbuster drugs in the past years. In this study analgesic effects of a variety of P2Y12R antagonists were assessed in rodent models of inflammatory, neuropathic pain and on acute nociception in parallel with their activity to block the recombinant human P2Y12R. All tested compounds, including the potent and selective P2Y12R antagonist PSB-0739 dose-dependently alleviated inflammatory pain and the majority of P2Y12R antagonists attenuated neuropathic pain in the partial sciatic nerve ligation model. The rank order of in vivo mED values were in rough correlation with the potency of the compounds to antagonize human P2Y12R mediated inhibition of isoproterenol induced cAMP accumulation. mRNA encoding P2Y12Rs and IL-1beta protein were overexpressed in the hind paw and lumbar spinal cord following intraplantar CFA injection. This was accompanied by the upregulation of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-10 in the hind paw. The selective P2Y12R antagonist PSB-0739 attenuated CFA-induced expression of all analyzed cytokines in the hind paw and of IL-1beta in spinal cord. No antagonist affected motor coordination.

In conclusion our findings indicate that P2Y12R inhibition is a plausible strategy to combat inflammatory and neuropathic pain, respectively.