brexpiprazole and Disease-Models--Animal

Efforts to replicate results from both basic and clinical models have highlighted problems with reproducibility in science. In psychiatry, reproducibility issues are compounded because the complex behavioral syndromes make many disorders challenging to model. We develop translatable tasks that quantitatively measure psychiatry-relevant behaviors across species. The behavioral pattern monitor (BPM) was designed to analyze exploratory behaviors, which are altered in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), especially during mania episodes. We have repeatedly assessed the behavioral effects of reduced dopamine transporter (DAT) expression in the BPM using a DAT knockdown (KD) mouse line (~10% normal expression). DAT KD mice exhibit a profile in the BPM consistent with acutely manic BD patients in the human version of the task-hyperactivity, increased exploratory behavior, and reduced spatial d (Perry et al., 2009). We collected data from multiple DAT KD BPM experiments in our laboratory to assess the reproducibility of behavioral outcomes across experiments. The four outcomes analyzed were: 1) transitions (amount of locomotor activity); 2) rearings (exploratory activity); 3) holepokes (exploratory activity); and 4) spatial d (geometrical pattern of locomotor activity). By comparing DAT KD mice to wildtype (WT) littermates in every experiment, we calculated effect sizes for each of the four outcomes and then calculated a mean effect size using a random effects model. DAT KD mice exhibited robust, reproducible changes in each of the four outcomes, including increased transitions, rearings, and holepokes, and reduced spatial d, vs. WT littermates. Our results demonstrate that the DAT KD mouse line in the BPM is a consistent, reproducible model of mania-relevant behaviors. More work must be done to assess reproducibility of behavioral outcomes across experiments in order to advance the field of psychiatry and develop more effective therapeutics for patients.

Topics: alpha-Methyltyrosine; Animals; Antimanic Agents; Behavior, Animal; Bipolar Disorder; Cohort Studies; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agonists; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Enzyme Inhibitors; Exploratory Behavior; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Locomotion; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Quinolones; Reproducibility of Results; Thiophenes; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; Valproic Acid

Topics: Animals; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Colitis; Depression; Disease Models, Animal; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Mice; Prefrontal Cortex; Serotonin

Partial agonist activity at the dopamine D

Topics: Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agonists; Drug Design; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Half-Life; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Receptors, Dopamine D2; Stereoisomerism; Structure-Activity Relationship

A cardinal feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a long-lasting paradoxical alteration of memory with hypermnesia for salient traumatic cues and amnesia for peri-traumatic contextual cues. So far, pharmacological therapeutic approach of this stress-related disorder is poorly developed mainly because of the lack of animal model for this paradoxical memory alteration. Using a model that precisely recapitulates the two memory components of PTSD in mice, we tested if brexpiprazole, a new antipsychotic drug with pro-cognitive effects in rodents, may persistently prevent the expression of PTSD-like memory induced by injection of corticosterone immediately after fear conditioning. Acute administration of brexpiprazole (0.3 mg/kg) 7 days' post-trauma first blocks the expression of the maladaptive fear memory for a salient but irrelevant trauma-related cue. In addition, it enhances (with superior efficacy when compared to diazepam, prazosin, and escitalopram) memory for the traumatic context, correct predictor of the threat. This beneficial effect of brexpiprazole is overall maintained 1 week after treatment. In contrast brexpiprazole fully spares normal/adaptive cued fear memory, showing that the effect of this drug is specific to an abnormal/maladaptive (PTSD-like) fear memory of a salient cue. Finally, this treatment not only promotes the switch from PTSD-like to normal fear memory, but also normalizes most of the alterations in the hippocampal-amygdalar network activation associated with PTSD-like memory, as measured by C-Fos expression. Altogether, these preclinical data indicate that brexpiprazole could represent a new pharmacological treatment of PTSD promoting the normalization of traumatic memory.

Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Escitalopram; Fear; Mice; Quinolones; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Thiophenes

When Zika virus emerged as a public health emergency there were no drugs or vaccines approved for its prevention or treatment. We used a high-throughput screen for Zika virus protease inhibitors to identify several inhibitors of Zika virus infection. We expressed the NS2B-NS3 Zika virus protease and conducted a biochemical screen for small-molecule inhibitors. A quantitative structure-activity relationship model was employed to virtually screen ∼138,000 compounds, which increased the identification of active compounds, while decreasing screening time and resources. Candidate inhibitors were validated in several viral infection assays. Small molecules with favorable clinical profiles, especially the five-lipoxygenase-activating protein inhibitor, MK-591, inhibited the Zika virus protease and infection in neural stem cells. Members of the tetracycline family of antibiotics were more potent inhibitors of Zika virus infection than the protease, suggesting they may have multiple mechanisms of action. The most potent tetracycline, methacycline, reduced the amount of Zika virus present in the brain and the severity of Zika virus-induced motor deficits in an immunocompetent mouse model. As Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, the tetracyclines could be quickly translated to the clinic. The compounds identified through our screening paradigm have the potential to be used as prophylactics for patients traveling to endemic regions or for the treatment of the neurological complications of Zika virus infection.

Topics: Animals; Antiviral Agents; Artificial Intelligence; Chlorocebus aethiops; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Immunocompetence; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Methacycline; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Protease Inhibitors; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship; Small Molecule Libraries; Vero Cells; Zika Virus; Zika Virus Infection

Although epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is frequently activated in lung and pancreatic cancers, the efficacy of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) is limited. Recently, brexpiprazole, an antipsychotic drug, was reported to chemosensitize glioma cells to osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR-TKI, by suppressing survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein, but their combinational effects on lung and pancreatic cancers remain unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the combinational effects of brexpiprazole and osimertinib on lung and pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.. YM155, a suppressor of survivin, siRNA, and immunoblot were used to examine the role of survivin in osimertinib-resistance. The effect of drugs on cell viability in vitro was examined by trypan blue staining. The in vivo effects of drugs on tumor growth were examined using a xenograft mouse model.. Brexpiprazole exerted combinational effects with osimertinib in vitro. Pharmacological and genetic suppression of survivin chemosensitized the cells to osimertinib. Moreover, the combination of brexpiprazole and osimertinib effectively suppressed tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model.. Brexpiprazole is a promising drug for lung and pancreatic cancer in combination with osimertinib.

Topics: Acrylamides; Aniline Compounds; Animals; Apoptosis; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; ErbB Receptors; Humans; Male; Mice; Neoplastic Stem Cells; Protein Kinase Inhibitors; Quinolones; RNA, Small Interfering; Survivin; Thiophenes; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a unique mood disorder defined by periods of depression and mania. The defining diagnosis of BD is the presence of mania/hypomania, with symptoms including hyperactivity and risk-taking. Since current treatments do not ameliorate cognitive deficits such as risky decision-making, and impulsivity that can negatively affect a patient's quality of life, better treatments are needed.. Here, we tested whether acute treatment with brexpiprazole, a serotonin-dopamine activity modulator with partial agonist activity at D. The effects of brexpiprazole on DAT knockdown and wild-type littermate mice were examined in the behavioral pattern monitor (BPM) and Iowa gambling task (IGT) to quantify activity/exploration and impulsivity/risk-taking behavior respectively.. DAT knockdown mice exhibited hyper-exploratory behavior in the BPM and made fewer safe choices in the IGT. Brexpiprazole attenuated the mania-like hyper-exploratory phenotype and increased safe choices in risk-preferring DAT knockdown mice. Brexpiprazole also reduced safe choices in safe-preferring mice irrespective of genotype. Finally, brexpiprazole reduced premature (impulsive-like) responses in both groups of mice.. Consistent with earlier reports, DAT knockdown mice exhibited hyper-exploratory, risk-preferring, and impulsive-like profiles consistent with patients with BD mania in these tasks. These behaviors were attenuated after brexpiprazole treatment. These data therefore indicate that brexpiprazole could be a novel treatment for BD mania and/or risk-taking/impulsivity disorders, since it remediates some relevant behavioral abnormalities in this mouse model.

Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Bipolar Disorder; Choice Behavior; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agonists; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Impulsive Behavior; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Motor Activity; Phenotype; Quinolones; Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT1A; Risk-Taking; Serotonin Agents; Thiophenes

Addition of low doses of the atypical antipsychotic drug brexpiprazole with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) could promote antidepressant effect in patients with major depressive disorder although the precise mechanisms underlying the action of the combination are unknown. Combination of low dose of brexpiprazole (0.1 mg/kg) and SSRI fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) could promote a rapid antidepressant effect in social defeat stress model although brexpiprazole or fluoxetine alone did not show antidepressant effect. Furthermore, the combination significantly improved alterations in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - TrkB signaling and dendritic spine density in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens in the susceptible mice after social defeat stress. Interestingly, TrkB antagonist ANA-12 significantly blocked beneficial effects of combination of brexpiprazole and fluoxetine on depression-like phenotype. These results suggest that BDNF-TrkB signaling plays a role in the rapid antidepressant action of the combination of brexpiprazole and fluoxetine.

Topics: Animals; Antidepressive Agents; Azepines; Behavior, Animal; Benzamides; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Dendritic Spines; Depressive Disorder, Major; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Therapy, Combination; Fluoxetine; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Phenotype; Quinolones; Receptor, trkB; Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; Signal Transduction; Thiophenes