Towards a high-affinity allosteric enhancer at muscarinic M1 receptors

Loss of forebrain acetylcholine (ACh) is an early neurochemical lesion in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and muscarinic receptors for ACh are involved in memory and cognition, so a muscarinic agonist could provide ‘replacement therapy’ in this disease. Muscarinic receptors, which couple to G-proteins, occur throughout the CNS, and in the periphery they mediate the responses of the parasympathetic nervous system, so selectivity is crucial. The five subtypes of muscarinic receptor, M₁–M₅, have a distinct regional distribution, with M₂ and M₃ mediating most of the peripheral effects, M₂ predominating in hindbrain areas, and M₁ predominating in the cortex and hippocampus—the brain regions most associated with memory and cognition, which has lead to a search for a truly M₁-selective muscarinic agonist. That search has so far been unsuccessful, but acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil (Aricept), which potentiate cholinergic neurotransmission, have a therapeutic role in the management of AD; so the M₁ receptor remains a therapeutic target. Our approach is to develop allosteric enhancers—compounds which bind to the receptor at an ‘allosteric’ site which is distinct from the ‘primary’ site to which the endogenous ligand binds, and which enhance the affinity (or efficacy) of the endogenous ligand. We have developed radioligand binding assays and analyses for the detection and quantitatitation of allosteric interactions of a test agent with labelled and unlabelled ‘primary’ ligands, and we report here some results of the initial phase of a chemical synthesis project to develop potent and selective allosteric enhancers at muscarinic M₁ receptors.