N-Alkylated Analogs of 4-Methylamphetamine (4-MA) Differentially Affect Monoamine Transporters and Abuse Liability

Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 Sep;42(10):1950-1961. doi: 10.1038/npp.2017.98. Epub 2017 May 22.

Abstract

Clandestine chemists synthesize novel stimulant drugs by exploiting structural templates known to target monoamine transporters for dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin (DAT, NET, and SERT, respectively). 4-Methylamphetamine (4-MA) is an emerging drug of abuse that interacts with transporters, but limited structure-activity data are available for its analogs. Here we employed uptake and release assays in rat brain synaptosomes, voltage-clamp current measurements in cells expressing transporters, and calcium flux assays in cells coexpressing transporters and calcium channels to study the effects of increasing N-alkyl chain length of 4-MA on interactions at DAT, NET, and SERT. In addition, we performed intracranial self-stimulation in rats to understand how the chemical modifications affect abuse liability. All 4-MA analogs inhibited uptake at DAT, NET, and SERT, but lengthening the amine substituent from methyl to ethyl, propyl, and butyl produced a stepwise decrease in potency. N-methyl 4-MA was an efficacious substrate-type releaser at DAT that evoked an inward depolarizing current and calcium influx, whereas other analogs did not exhibit these effects. N-methyl and N-ethyl 4-MA were substrates at NET, whereas N-propyl and N-butyl 4-MA were not. All analogs acted as SERT substrates, though N-butyl 4-MA had very weak effects. Intracranial self-stimulation in rats showed that elongating the N-alkyl chain decreased abuse-related effects in vivo that appeared to parallel reductions in DAT activity. Overall, converging lines of evidence show that lengthening the N-alkyl substituent of 4-MA reduces potency to inhibit transporters, eliminates substrate activity at DAT and NET, and decreases abuse liability of the compounds.

MeSH terms

  • Alkylation
  • Amphetamine-Related Disorders / metabolism*
  • Amphetamines / administration & dosage
  • Amphetamines / pharmacology*
  • Animals
  • Brain / drug effects
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Calcium Channels / metabolism
  • Dopamine / metabolism
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Membrane Potentials / drug effects
  • Membrane Transport Modulators / administration & dosage
  • Membrane Transport Modulators / pharmacology*
  • Norepinephrine / metabolism
  • Oocytes
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Serotonin / metabolism
  • Synaptosomes / drug effects
  • Synaptosomes / metabolism
  • Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins / metabolism*
  • Xenopus laevis

Substances

  • Amphetamines
  • Calcium Channels
  • Membrane Transport Modulators
  • Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins
  • Serotonin
  • 1-(4-methylphenyl)propane-2-amine
  • Calcium
  • Dopamine
  • Norepinephrine