Background and purpose: M 1 muscarinic ACh receptors (mAChRs) represent an attractive drug target for the treatment of cognitive deficits associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. However, the discovery of subtypeselective mAChR agonists has been hampered by the high degree of conservation of the orthosteric ACh-binding site among mAChR subtypes. The advent of functional screening assays has enabled the identification of agonists such as AC-42 (4-nbutyl-1-[4-(2-methylphenyl)-4-oxo-1-butyl]-piperidine), which bind to an allosteric site and selectively activate the M 1 mAChR subtype. However, studies with this compound have been limited to recombinantly expressed mAChRs. Experimental approach: In this study, we have compared the pharmacological profile of AC-42 and a close structural analogue, 77-LH-28-1 (1-[3-(4-butyl-1-piperidinyl)propyl]-3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinolinone) at human recombinant, and rat native, mAChRs by calcium mobilization, inositol phosphate accumulation and both in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology. Key results: Calcium mobilization and inositol phosphate accumulation assays revealed that both AC-42 and 77-LH-28-1 display high selectivity to activate the M 1 mAChR over other mAChR subtypes. Furthermore, 77-LH-28-1, but not AC-42, acted as an agonist at rat hippocampal M 1 receptors, as demonstrated by its ability to increase cell firing and initiate gamma frequency network oscillations. Finally, 77-LH-28-1 stimulated cell firing in the rat hippocampus in vivo following subcutaneous administration. Conclusions and implications: These data suggest that 77-LH-28-1 is a potent, selective, bioavailable and brain-penetrant agonist at the M 1 mAChR and therefore that it represents a better tool than AC-42, with which to study the pharmacology of the M 1 mAChR. (2008) 154, 1104-1115 doi:10.1038/bjp.2008 published online 5 May 2008 Keywords: muscarinic receptors; selective agonist; allosteric; AC-42; 77-LH-28-1; calcium mobilization; inositol phosphate; cell firing; network oscillations There is a wide array of pharmacological tools with which to study mAChRs. For example, N-methyl scopolamine, quinuclidinylbenzilate, pirenzepine and darifenacin are among numerous mAChR antagonists, and ACh and oxotremorine-M among mAChR agonists, which have been used in unlabelled and radiolabelled forms to characterize the localization, pharmacology and function of mAChRs. Unfortunately, most of these pharmacological tools exhibit poor selectivity between mAChR subtypes (Caulfield and Birdsall, 1998;Ellis, 2002). Those agents that do display high degrees of mAChR subtype selectivity are few in number and when discovered are often shown to interact with an allosteric, rather than the orthosteric, site as exemplified by the highly selective M 1 receptor peptide antagonist MT-7 (muscarinic toxin 7; Olianas et al., 2000). British Journal of PharmacologyTherefore, the identification of selective M 1 mAChR agonists would represent a significant advance in mAChR pharmacology and could offer t...

No abstract

Persistent plastic changes to the intrinsic excitability of neurons have substantial implications for computational processing within the CNS. We have identified and characterized a novel long-lasting form of intrinsic plasticity in hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells. Although the patterns of action potential firing elicited in this cell population by depolarizing current injections exhibited considerable diversity, practically all cells produced an initial high frequency (>100 Hz) burst of two to five spikes. This burst involved conductances that were responsible for the prominent spike afterdepolarization of CA3 pyramids. Long-lasting changes in the firing behaviour of CA3 cells were produced by conditioning stimuli (CS) consisting of either periods of depolarization in voltage clamp or periods of short (2 or 4 spikes) high frequency (circa 100 Hz) burst firing at 5 or 10 Hz. CS-induced changes included substantial prolongation of the first inter-spike interval and increased spike jitter. Similar CS-induced changes were seen when the test stimulus used to elicit firing resembled a glutamatergic EPSC. In line with this, a long-lasting depression of the ADP was elicited by the same CS that altered firing patterns of CA3 cells. Conditioning-induced changes in both spiking patterns and ADP amplitude were blocked by buffering intracellular Ca 2+ with BAPTA. Furthermore, the Kv7 channel blocker XE991, a cognitive enhancer, both enhanced the ADP and completely eliminated its conditioning-induced depression. These findings indicate that a persistent enhancement of Kv7 channels, following a transient increase in cytoplasmic Ca 2+ , results in a prolonged depression of the ADP in CA3 pyramidal neurones.

Although numerous protocols have been developed for differentiation of neurons from a variety of pluripotent stem cells, most have concentrated on being able to specify effectively appropriate neuronal subtypes and few have been designed to enhance or accelerate functional maturity. Of those that have, most employ time courses of functional maturation that are rather protracted, and none have fully characterized all aspects of neuronal function, from spontaneous action potential generation through to postsynaptic receptor maturation. Here, we describe a simple protocol that employs the sequential addition of just two supplemented media that have been formulated to separate the two key phases of neural differentiation, the neurogenesis and synaptogenesis, each characterized by different signaling requirements. Employing these media, this new protocol synchronized neurogenesis and enhanced the rate of maturation of pluripotent stem cell-derived neural precursors. Neurons differentiated using this protocol exhibited large cell capacitance with relatively hyperpolarized resting membrane potentials; moreover, they exhibited augmented: 1) spontaneous electrical activity; 2) regenerative induced action potential train activity; 3) Na(+) current availability, and 4) synaptic currents. This was accomplished by rapid and uniform development of a mature, inhibitory GABAAreceptor phenotype that was demonstrated by Ca(2+) imaging and the ability of GABAAreceptor blockers to evoke seizurogenic network activity in multielectrode array recordings. Furthermore, since this protocol can exploit expanded and frozen prepatterned neural progenitors to deliver mature neurons within 21 days, it is both scalable and transferable to high-throughput platforms for the use in functional screens.