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Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are voltage-independent cation channels that detect decreases in extracellular pH. Dysregulation of ASICs underpins a number of pathologies. Of particular interest is ASIC3, which is recognised as a key sensor of acid-induced pain and is important in the establishment of pain arising from inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, the identification of new ASIC3 modulators and the mechanistic understanding of how these compounds modulate ASIC3 could be important for the development of new strategies to counteract the detrimental effects of dysregulated ASIC3 activity in inflammation. Here, we report the identification of novel ASIC3 modulators based on the ASIC3 agonist, 2-guanidine-4-methylquinazoline (GMQ). Through a GMQ-guided in silico screening of Food and Drug administration (FDA)-approved drugs, 5 compounds were selected and tested for their modulation of rat ASIC3 (rASIC3) using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology. Of the chosen drugs, guanabenz (GBZ), an α 2 -adrenoceptor agonist, produced similar effects to GMQ on rASIC3, activating the channel at physiological pH (pH 7.4) and potentiating its response to mild acidic (pH 7) stimuli. Sephin1, a GBZ derivative that lacks α 2 -adrenoceptor activity, has been proposed to act as a selective inhibitor of a regulatory subunit of the stress-induced protein phosphatase 1 (PPP1R15A) with promising therapeutic potential for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. However, we found that like GBZ, sephin1 activates rASIC3 at pH 7.4 and potentiates its response to acidic stimulation (pH 7), i.e. sephin1 is a novel modulator of rASIC3. Furthermore, docking experiments showed that, like GMQ, GBZ and sephin1 likely interact with the nonproton ligand sensor domain of rASIC3. Overall, these data demonstrate the utility of computational analysis for identifying novel ASIC3 modulators, which can be validated with electrophysiological analysis and may lead to the development of better compounds for targeting ASIC3 in the treatment of inflammatory conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The mechanism for formation of high affinity binding of guanoxabenz (1-(2,6-dichlorobenzylidene-amino)-3-hydroxyguanidine) to alpha2-adrenoceptors by the rat spleen cytosol was studied. We report here that the spleen cytosolic fraction mediated the reduction of guanoxabenz to guanabenz (1-(2,6-dichlorobenzylidene-amino)-3-guanidine), the latter having an almost 100-fold higher affinity for rat alpha2A-adrenoceptors than guanoxabenz itself. The reaction product could be separated by high-performance liquid chromatography and its identity as guanabenz confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance. The spleen cytosolic activity could be separated into high and low molecular weight components, the high molecular weight component requiring low molecular weight factors for maximal activity. Xanthine oxidase seems to be the most likely candidate responsible for the activity, as the guanoxabenz-reducing activity of the high molecular weight component could be sustained by exogenously applied xanthine, while it was potently blocked by allopurinol. The conversion of guanoxabenz by the cytosolic activity was also quite potently blocked by DWO1, 1-(3,4-dimethoxybenzylideneamino)3-hydroxyguanidine, a hydroxyguanidine analogue to guanoxabenz.

The mechanism for formation of high-affinity binding of 1-(2,6-dichlorobenzylidene-amino)-3-hydroxyguanidine (guanoxabenz) to alpha2-adrenoceptors was studied in particulate fractions from the rat spleen. The proportion of apparent high versus low-affinity alpha2-adrenoceptor binding sites increased with increasing incubation time and was also augmented by Mg2+ ions. The formation of high-affinity guanoxabenz binding seemed to be inhibited by a series of N-hydroxyguanidine analogs to guanoxabenz, as well as by a series of metabolic inhibitors that included allopurinol, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid), cibacron blue, phenyl-p-benzoquinone, didox, and trimidox. The formation of guanoxabenz high-affinity binding was also inhibited in a time- and concentration-dependent fashion by preincubating the membranes with the LW03 N-hydroxyguanidine analogue of guanoxabenz. Moreover, when the spleen membranes were extensively washed for 30 min with buffers at 25 degrees, the guanoxabenz high-affinity binding disappeared. However, when these washed membranes were supplemented with xanthine, the apparent affinity of guanoxabenz increased four to five-fold. Taken together, all data were compatible with the theory that the formation of high-affinity binding was dependent on the generation of a guanoxabenz metabolite that showed an approximate 100-fold greater affinity for the alpha2-adrenoceptors than guanoxabenz itself. Because the most potent blocker of the formation of high-affinity binding was allopurinol (apart from some N-hydroxyguanidine analogs to guanoxabenz) and since the activity could be restored with xanthine, a likely candidate responsible for the metabolic activation is xanthine oxidase.

In recent research a new series of specific drugs, one of which is guanabenz (GBZ, 2,6(dichlorobenzyliden)-aminoguanidine) has been introduced into the clinical treatment of centrally mediated hypertension. Guanabenz (GBZ) is considered to be among the most specific alpha 2-adrenergic agonists, acting similarly to clonidine by decreasing the sympathetic outflow from the brain to the peripheral circulatory system. In the present report we show that GBZ displays a significant affinity for beta-adrenoceptors. In displacement studies of the iodinated beta-antagonist [125I]cyanopindolol (CYP) from turkey erythrocyte membranes, the dissociation constant of GBZ was 3.8 microM. Inhibition of the (-) epinephrine induced adenylate cyclase activity by GBZ is competitive, with an apparent dissociation constant of 30 microM. A similar value was obtained by studies of GBZ's effect on the (-) epinephrine-induced [3H]cAMP accumulation in intact turkey erythrocytes. In view of its unexpected affinity for beta-adrenoceptors, we examined the three-dimensional structure of crystalline GBZ. In these studies substantial differences between clonidine and GBZ were observed, despite their strong structural resemblance. These dissimilarities (angle of rotation phi = 39.7 degrees as compared to 76 degrees in clonidine, and the rotational restriction of clonidine as compared to the greater mobility in rotation of GBZ) could explain the difference of specificity between these two compounds.