yqa14 and Cocaine-Related-Disorders

Preclinical studies suggest that dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) antagonists are promising for the treatment of drug abuse and addiction. However, few D3R antagonists have potential to be tested in humans due to short half-life, toxicity or limited preclinical research into pharmacotherapeutic efficacy. Here, we report on a novel D3R antagonist YQA14, which has improved half-life and pharmacokinetic profile and which displays potent pharmacotherapeutic efficacy in attenuating cocaine reward and relapse to drug-seeking behavior. Electrical brain-stimulation reward (BSR) in laboratory animals is a highly sensitive experimental approach to evaluate a drug's rewarding effects. We found that cocaine (2 mg/kg) significantly enhanced electrical BSR in rats (i.e., decreased stimulation threshold for BSR), while YQA14 alone had no effect on BSR. Pretreatment with YQA14 significantly and dose-dependently attenuated cocaine-enhanced BSR. YQA14 also facilitated extinction from drug-seeking behavior in rats during early behavioral extinction, and attenuated cocaine- or contextual cue-induced relapse to drug-seeking behavior. YQA14 alone did not maintain self-administration in either naïve rats or in rats experienced at cocaine self-administration. YQA14 also inhibited expression of repeated cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization. These findings suggest that YQA14 may have pharmacotherapeutic potential in attenuating cocaine-taking and cocaine-seeking behavior. Thus, YQA14 deserves further investigation as a promising agent for treatment of cocaine addiction.

Topics: Animals; Behavior, Addictive; Behavior, Animal; Benzoxazoles; Brain; Cocaine; Cocaine-Related Disorders; Dopamine Antagonists; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug-Seeking Behavior; Electric Stimulation; Male; Piperazines; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Receptors, Dopamine D3; Recurrence; Reward

Growing preclinical evidence suggests that dopamine D3 receptor antagonists are promising for the treatment of addiction. We have previously reported a novel dopamine D3 receptor antagonist YQA14 with better pharmacokinetic behaviours and pharmacotherapeutic efficacy than other tested compounds in attenuating the reward and relapse of cocaine. In the present study, we investigated whether YQA14 can similarly inhibit methamphetamine self-administration and cue- or methamphetamine-trigged reinstatement of drug-seeking behaviour. The research illustrated that systemic administration of YQA14 (6.25-25mg/kg, i.p. 20min prior to methamphetamine) failed to alter methamphetamine (0.05mg/kg) self-administration under fixed-ratio 2. However, YQA14 (6.25-25mg/kg, i.p. 20min prior to methamphetamine) significantly and dose-dependently reduced methamphetamine self-administration under fixed-ratio 2 by a low dose (0.006, 0.0125, 0.025mg/kg) of methamphetamine and shifted the dose curve right and down. Further, YQA14 also lowered the break point under progressive-ratio reinforcement conditions in rats. Finally, YQA14 also significantly inhibited cue- or methamphetamine-triggered reinstatement of extinguished drug-seeking behaviour. Overall, our findings suggest that blockade of the dopamine D3 receptor by YQA14 attenuated the rewarding and incentive motivational effects of methamphetamine in rats and may have pharmacotherapeutic potential in the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Thus, YQA14 deserves further investigation as a promising medication for the treatment of addiction.

Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Benzoxazoles; Cocaine; Cocaine-Related Disorders; Dopamine Antagonists; Drug-Seeking Behavior; Extinction, Psychological; Male; Methamphetamine; Piperazines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Dopamine D3; Recurrence; Reinforcement, Psychology; Self Administration

The dopamine (DA) D3 receptor is posited to be importantly involved in drug reward and addiction, and D3 receptor antagonists have shown extraordinary promise as potential anti-addiction pharmacotherapeutic agents in animal models of drug addiction. SB-277011A is the best characterized D3 receptor antagonist in such models. However, the potential use of SB-277011A in humans is precluded by pharmacokinetic and toxicity problems. We here report a novel D3 receptor antagonist YQA14 that shows similar pharmacological properties as SB-277011A. In vitro receptor binding assays suggest that YQA14 has two binding sites on human cloned D3 receptors with K(i-High) (0.68 × 10(-4)  nM) and K(i-Low) (2.11 nM), and displays > 150-fold selectivity for D3 over D2 receptors and > 1000-fold selectivity for D3 over other DA receptors. Systemic administration of YQA14 (6.25-25 mg/kg) or SB-277011A (12.5-25 mg/kg) significantly and dose-dependently reduced intravenous cocaine self-administration under both low fixed-ratio and progressive-ratio reinforcement conditions in rats, while failing to alter oral sucrose self-administration and locomotor activity, suggesting a selective inhibition of drug reward. However, when the drug dose was increased to 50 mg/kg, YQA14 and SB-277011A significantly inhibited basal and cocaine-enhanced locomotion in rats. Finally, both D3 antagonists dose-dependently inhibited intravenous cocaine self-administration in wild-type mice, but not in D3 receptor-knockout mice, suggesting that their action is mediated by D3 receptor blockade. These findings suggest that YQA14 has a similar anti-addiction profile as SB-277011A, and deserves further study and development.

Topics: Animals; Benzoxazoles; Cocaine; Cocaine-Related Disorders; Conditioning, Operant; Dopamine Antagonists; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Fluorenes; Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate); Infusions, Intravenous; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Motor Activity; Nitriles; Piperazines; Quinpirole; Radioligand Assay; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Receptors, Dopamine D3; Reinforcement, Psychology; Reward; Self Administration; Sucrose; Tetrahydroisoquinolines