Research Project-2: Functionally Selective Ligands Targeting 5-HT7 Receptor as Potential Antinociceptive Agents

NIH RePORTER · MD · U54 · $278,518 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Neuropathic pain is estimated in the general population to range between 3% and 17%, and lacks an effective treatment, as most of the available treatments have only moderate efficacy and present significant side effects including addiction that limit their use. Therefore, other therapeutic approaches are needed to replace the addictive opioids that are the mainstay of current treatment. 5-HT7R agonists including AS-19, E-55888, LP-12, LP-44, LP-211, AGH-192 and compound 1g have been reported in the literature and have been used to characterize the involvement of the 5-HT7R in CNS conditions including pain, memory and cognition. More recently, 5-HT7R agonists have been implicated in the treatment of neuropathic pain, sleep disorders, and alcohol and drug abuse. However, there are divergent views reported in the literature regarding the role of the 5-HT7R ligands in their pharmacological actions. While these controversial roles of 5-HT7R may depend on non-selectivity at other CNS receptors, and/or on different brain regions and the neurochemical environment in which the receptors are located, or even receptor-receptor interactions, some of the inconsistent pharmacological effects may be explained by the different signaling pathways associated with the 5-HT7R, including G protein biased, β-arrestin biased or balanced signaling at both pathways. Current evidence indicates that 5-HT7R ligands activate not only G protein but also β-arrestin signaling pathways and that no β-arrestin-biased ligands that selectively interact with 5-HT7R have been disclosed other than compound 1g reported in a JMC paper in 2018. In addition, a recent PNAS paper reported serodolin behaves as an antagonist/inverse agonist on Gs signaling while inducing ERK activation through a β-arrestin–dependent signaling mechanism that requires activation of the non-receptor tyrosine kinase, c-Src. Serodolin was also shown to decrease hyperalgesia and pain sensation in response to i

Key facts

NIH application ID
11413498
Project number
5U54MD007582-41
Recipient
FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIV
Principal Investigator
Seth Y Ablordeppey
Activity code
U54
Funding institute
MD
Fiscal year
2026
Award amount
$278,518
Award type
5
Project period
1997-08-01T00:00:00 → 2029-03-31T00:00:00