L-838,417 is an
anxiolytic
An anxiolytic (; also antipanic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that reduces anxiety. This effect is in contrast to anxiogenic agents which increase anxiety. Anxiolytic medications are used for the treatment of anxie ...
drug used in scientific research. It has similar effects to
benzodiazepine
Benzodiazepines (BZD, BDZ, BZs), colloquially known as "benzos", are a class of central nervous system (CNS) depressant, depressant drugs whose core chemical structure is the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring. They are prescribed t ...
drugs, but is structurally distinct and so is classed as a
nonbenzodiazepine
Nonbenzodiazepines (), sometimes referred to colloquially as Z-drugs (as many of their names begin with the letter "z"), are a class of psychoactive, depressant, sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic drugs that are benzodiazepine-like in uses, such as f ...
anxiolytic. The compound was developed by
Merck, Sharp and Dohme.
L-838,417 is a subtype-selective
GABAA positive allosteric modulator, acting as a
partial agonist
In pharmacology, partial agonists are drugs that bind to and activate a given Receptor (biochemistry), receptor, but have only partial Intrinsic activity, efficacy at the receptor relative to a full agonist. They may also be considered Ligand (bio ...
at
α2,
α3 and
α5 subtypes. However, it acts as a
negative allosteric modulator at the
α1 subtype, and has little affinity for the
α4 or
α6 subtypes.
This gives it selective
anxiolytic
An anxiolytic (; also antipanic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that reduces anxiety. This effect is in contrast to anxiogenic agents which increase anxiety. Anxiolytic medications are used for the treatment of anxie ...
effects, which are mediated mainly by α
2 and α
3 subtypes, but with little
sedative
A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or Psychomotor agitation, excitement. They are central nervous system (CNS) Depressant, depressants and interact with brain activity, causing its decelera ...
or
amnestic effects as these effects are mediated by α
1.
Some sedation might still be expected due to its activity at the α
5 subtype, which can also cause sedation, however no sedative effects were seen in animal studies even at high doses, suggesting that L-838,417 is primarily acting at α
2 and α
3 subtypes with the α
5 subtype of lesser importance.
As might be predicted from its binding profile, L-838,417 substitutes for the anxiolytic benzodiazepine
chlordiazepoxide in animals, but not for the
hypnotic
A hypnotic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), also known as a somnifacient or soporific, and commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to sleep induction, induce sleep and to trea ...
imidazopyridine
An imidazopyridine is a nitrogen containing heterocycle that is also a class of medication, drugs that contain this same chemical substructure. In general, they are GABAA receptor, GABAA receptor receptor_agonist, agonists, however recently proto ...
drug
zolpidem
Zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien among others, is a medication primarily used for the short-term treatment of sleeping problems. Guidelines recommend that it be used only after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and after beh ...
.
The synthesis of L-838,417 and similar compounds was described in 2005 in the
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
In neuropathic pain animal models, it has been shown that stabilizing the Potassium Chloride Cotranspoter 2 (
KCC2) at neuronal membranes could not only potentiate the L-838,417-induced analgesia in rats, but also rescue its analgesic potential at high doses, revealing a novel strategy for analgesia in pathological pain, by combined targeting of the appropriate
GABAA receptor subtypes (i.e.
α2,
α3) and restoring Cl
− homeostasis.
See also
*
α5IA
*
SL-651,498
References
{{GABAAR PAMs
Anxiolytics
Fluoroarenes
Triazolopyridazines
Ethers
Triazoles
GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulators
Tert-butyl compounds