Buprenorphine is a μ-opioid receptor partial agonist and κ-opioid receptor antagonist currently on trials for the management of pregnant opioid-dependent addicts. However, little is known about the effects of buprenorphine on brain development. Oligodendrocytes express opioid receptors in a developmentally regulated manner and thus, it is logical to hypothesize that perinatal exposure to buprenorphine could affect myelination. To investigate this possibility, pregnant rats were implanted with minipumps to deliver buprenorphine at 0.3 or 1 mg/kg/day. Analysis of their pups at different postnatal ages indicated that exposure to 0.3 mg/kg/day buprenorphine caused an accelerated and significant increase in the brain expression of all myelin basic protein (MBP) splicing isoforms. In contrast, treatment with the higher dose caused a developmental delay in MBP expression. Examination of corpus callosum at 26-days of age indicated that both buprenorphine doses cause a significant increase in the caliber of the myelinated axons. Surprisingly, these axons have a disproportionately thinner myelin sheath, suggesting alterations at the level of axon-glial interactions. Analysis of myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) expression and glycosylation indicated that this molecule may play a crucial role in mediating these effects. Co-immunoprecipitation studies also suggested a mechanism involving a MAG-dependent activation of the Src-family tyrosine kinase Fyn. These results support the idea that opioid signaling plays an important role in regulating myelination in vivo and stress the need for further studies investigating potential effects of perinatal buprenorphine exposure on brain development.

While the classical function of myelin is the facilitation of saltatory conduction, this membrane and the oligodendrocytes, the cells that make myelin in the central nervous system (CNS), are now recognized as important regulators of plasticity and remodeling in the developing brain. As such, oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination are among the most vulnerable processes along CNS development. We have shown previously that rat brain myelination is significantly altered by buprenorphine, an opioid analogue currently used in clinical trials for managing pregnant opioid addicts. Perinatal exposure to low levels of this drug induced accelerated and increased expression of myelin basic proteins (MBPs), cellular and myelin components that are markers of mature oligodendrocytes. In contrast, supra-therapeutic drug doses delayed MBP brain expression and resulted in a decreased number of myelinated axons. We have now found that this biphasic-dose response to buprenorphine can be attributed to the participation of both the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) and the nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor (NOP receptor) in the oligodendrocytes. This is particularly intriguing because the NOP receptor/nociceptin system has been primarily linked to behavior and pain regulation, but a role in CNS development or myelination has not been described before. Our findings suggest that balance between signaling mediated by (a) MOR activation and (b) a novel, yet unidentified pathway that includes the NOP receptor, plays a crucial role in the timing of oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin synthesis. Moreover, exposure to opioids could disrupt the normal interplay between these two systems altering the developmental pattern of brain myelination.

d Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive lipid mediator that regulates many processes in inflammation and cancer. S1P is a ligand for five G-protein-coupled receptors, S1PR1 to -5, and also has important intracellular actions. Previously, we showed that intracellular S1P is involved in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF)-induced NF-B activation in melanoma cell lines that express filamin A (FLNA). Here, we show that extracellular S1P activates NF-B only in melanoma cells that lack FLNA. In these cells, S1P, but not TNF, promotes IB kinase (IKK) and p65 phosphorylation, IB␣ degradation, p65 nuclear translocation, and NF-B reporter activity. NF-B activation induced by S1P was mediated via S1PR1 and S1PR2. Exogenous S1P enhanced the phosphorylation of protein kinase C␦ (PKC␦), and its downregulation reduced S1P-induced the phosphorylation of IKK and p65. In addition, silencing of Bcl10 also inhibited S1P-induced IKK phosphorylation. Surprisingly, S1P reduced Akt activation in melanoma cells that express FLNA, whereas in the absence of FLNA, high phosphorylation levels of Akt were maintained, enabling S1P-mediated NF-B signaling. In accord, inhibition of Akt suppressed S1P-mediated IKK and p65 phosphorylation and degradation of IB␣. Hence, these results support a negative role of FLNA in S1P-mediated NF-B activation in melanoma cells through modulation of Akt.

We report in this work new substituted aminopyrimidine derivatives acting as inhibitors of the catalytic site of BACE1. These compounds were obtained from a molecular modeling study. The theoretical and experimental study reported here was carried out in several steps: docking analysis, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, Quantum Theory Atom in Molecules (QTAIM) calculations, synthesis and bioassays and has allowed us to propose some compounds of this series as new inhibitors of the catalytic site of BACE1. The QTAIM study has allowed us to obtain an excellent correlation between the electronic densities and the experimental data of IC. Also, using combined techniques (MD simulations and QTAIM calculations) enabled us to describe in detail the molecular interactions that stabilize the different L-R complexes. In addition, our results allowed us to determine what portion of these compounds should be changed in order to increase their affinity with the BACE1. Another interesting result is that a sort of synergism was observed when the effects of these new catalytic site inhibitors were combined with Ac-Tyr5-Pro6-Tyr7-Asp8-Ile9-Pro10-Leu11-NH, which we have recently reported as a modulator of BACE1 acting on its exosite.