Lack of abuse potential in a highly selective dopamine D3 agonist, PF-592,379, in drug self-administration and drug discrimination in rats.

Dopamine D3-preferring agonists are commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease and restless leg syndrome; however, laboratory animal studies suggest that they may possess a moderate abuse potential. These studies aimed to compare the highly selective, full D3 agonist PF-592,379 to the less selective D3 agonist 7-OH-DPAT, and the indirect dopamine agonist cocaine in drug self-administration and discrimination assays. Although rats readily acquired high rates of fixed ratio (FR)1 responding for cocaine, experimentally naive rats failed to acquire responding when 7-OH-DPAT or PF-592,379 was made available during an 18-session acquisition period. Cocaine also maintained dose-dependent levels of responding when available under a FR5 or a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement. Although 7-OH-DPAT maintained modest levels of responding when substituted under a FR5, it failed to maintain significant levels of PR responding. PF-592,379 maintained saline-like rates of responding when substituted under FR5 or PR schedules of reinforcement. Similar behavioral profiles were observed in cocaine discrimination assays, with 7-OH-DPAT partially substituting for cocaine, and PF-592,379 producing saline-like effects over a wide range of doses. Together, the results of these studies predict that highly selective D3 agonists, such as PF-592,379, will have low abuse potential in humans.

Functional selectivity of muscarinic receptor antagonists for inhibition of M3-mediated phosphoinositide responses in guinea pig urinary bladder and submandibular salivary gland.

Binding and functional affinities of the muscarinic acetylcholine (mACh) receptor antagonists darifenacin, tolterodine, oxybutynin, and atropine were assessed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing the human recombinant M2 (CHO-m2) or M3 (CHO-m3) receptors, and in guinea pig bladder and submandibular gland. In [N-methyl-3H]scopolamine methyl chloride binding studies in CHO cells, darifenacin displayed selectivity (14.8-fold) for the M3 versus M2 mACh receptor subtype. Oxybutynin was nonselective, whereas atropine and tolterodine were weakly M2-selective (5.1- and 6.6-fold, respectively). Antagonist functional affinity estimates were determined by the inhibition of agonist-induced [3H]inositol phosphate accumulation in CHO-m3 cells and antagonism of the agonist-induced inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation in CHO-m2 cells. Darifenacin was the most M3-selective antagonist (32.4-fold), whereas oxybutynin, atropine, and tolterodine exhibited lesser selectivity. Functional affinity estimates in guinea pig urinary bladder and submandibular salivary gland using indices of phosphoinositide turnover revealed that oxybutynin, darifenacin, and tolterodine each displayed selectivity for the response in the bladder, relative to that seen in the submandibular gland (9.3-, 7.9-, and 7.4-fold, respectively). In contrast, atropine displayed a similar affinity in both tissues. These data demonstrate that in bladder, compared with submandibular gland from a single species, the mACh receptor antagonists darifenacin, tolterodine, and oxybutynin display selectivity to inhibit agonist-mediated phosphoinositide responses. It is proposed that both responses are mediated via M3 mACh receptor activation and that differential functional affinities displayed by some, but not all, antagonists are indicative of the influence of cell background upon the pharmacology of the M3 mACh receptor.