lassbio-579 and Disease-Models--Animal

Previous studies on the N-phenylpiperazine derivative LASSBio-579 have suggested that LASSBio-579 has an atypical antipsychotic profile. It binds to D2, D4 and 5-HT1A receptors and is effective in animal models of schizophrenia symptoms (prepulse inhibition disruption, apomorphine-induced climbing and amphetamine-induced stereotypy). In the current study, we evaluated the effect of LASSBio-579, clozapine (atypical antipsychotic) and haloperidol (typical antipsychotic) in the novel object recognition task, a recognition memory model with translational value. Haloperidol (0.01 mg/kg, orally) impaired the ability of the animals (CF1 mice) to recognize the novel object on short-term and long-term memory tasks, whereas LASSBio-579 (5 mg/kg, orally) and clozapine (1 mg/kg, orally) did not. In another set of experiments, animals previously treated with ketamine (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) or vehicle (saline 1 ml/100 g, intraperitoneally) received LASSBio-579, clozapine or haloperidol at different time-points: 1 h before training (encoding/consolidation); immediately after training (consolidation); or 1 h before long-term memory testing (retrieval). LASSBio-579 and clozapine protected against the long-term memory impairment induced by ketamine when administered at the stages of encoding, consolidation and retrieval of memory. These findings point to the potential of LASSBio-579 for treating cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia and other disorders.

Topics: Animals; Antipsychotic Agents; Clozapine; Disease Models, Animal; Haloperidol; Ketamine; Male; Memory, Long-Term; Memory, Short-Term; Mice; Piperazines; Recognition, Psychology; Schizophrenia; Time Factors

Previous behavioral and receptor binding studies on N-phenylpiperazine derivatives by our group indicated that LASSBio-579, LASSBio-580 and LASSBio-581 could be potential antipsychotic lead compounds. The present study identified LASSBio-579 as the most promising among the three compounds, since it was the only one that inhibited apomorphine-induced climbing (5 mg/kg p.o.) and apomorphine-induced hypothermia (15 mg/kg p.o.). Furthermore, LASSBio-579 (0.5 mg/kg p.o.) was effective in the ketamine-induced hyperlocomotion test and prevented the prepulse inhibition deficits induced by apomorphine, DOI and ketamine with different potencies (1 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg p.o., respectively). LASSBio-579 also induced a motor impairment, catalepsy and a mild sedative effect but only at doses 3-120 times higher than those with antipsychotic-like effects. In addition, LASSBio-579 (0.5 and 1 mg/kg p.o.) reversed the catalepsy induced by WAY 100,635, corroborating its action on both dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission and pointing to the contribution of 5-HT(1A) receptor activation to its pharmacological profile. Moreover, co-administration of sub-effective doses of LASSBio-579 with sub-effective doses of clozapine or haloperidol prevented the apomorphine-induced climbing without induction of catalepsy. In summary, our results characterize LASSBio-579 as a multi-target ligand active in pharmacological animal models of schizophrenia, confirming that this compound could be included in development programs aiming at a new drug for treating schizophrenia.

Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Antipsychotic Agents; Apomorphine; Barbiturates; Catalepsy; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agonists; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Interactions; Hypothermia; Ketamine; Male; Mice; Motor Activity; Piperazines; Psychoacoustics; Reflex, Startle; Schizophrenia; Sleep