Diacylglycerol lipase α (DAGLα) hydrolyses DAG to generate the principal endocannabinoid (eCB) 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) in the central nervous system. DAGLα dependent cannabinoid (CB) signalling has been implicated in numerous processes including axonal growth and guidance, adult neurogenesis and retrograde signalling at the synapse. Recent studies have implicated DAGLα as an emerging drug target for several conditions including pain and obesity. Activity assays are critical to the drug discovery process; however, measurement of diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL) activity using its native substrate generally involves low-throughput MS techniques. Some relatively high-throughput membrane based assays utilizing surrogate substrates have been reported, but these do not take into account the rate-limiting effects often associated with the ability of a drug to cross the cell membrane. In the present study, we report the development of a live cell assay to measure DAGLα activity. Two previously reported DAGLα surrogate substrates, p-nitrophenyl butyrate (PNPB) and 6,8-difluoro-4-methylumbelliferyl octanoate (DiFMUO), were evaluated for their ability to detect DAGLα activity in live cell assays using a human cell line stably expressing the human DAGLα transgene. Following optimization, the small molecule chromogenic substrate PNPB proved to be superior by providing lower background activity along with a larger signal window between transfected and parental cells when compared with the fluorogenic substrate DiFMUO. The assay was further validated using established DAGL inhibitors. In summary, the live cell DAGLα assay reported here offers an economical and convenient format to screen for novel inhibitors as part of drug discovery programmes and compliments previously reported high-throughput membrane based DAGL assays.

The diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) hydrolyse DAG to generate 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), the principal endocannabinoid and main precursor of arachidonic acid (AA). The DAGLs make distinct tissue specific contributions towards 2-AG and AA levels and therefore selective modulators for these enzymes could play crucial roles towards harnessing their therapeutic potential. Relatively high-throughput assays have recently been reported for DAGLα and have proven useful towards the characterization of inhibitors of this enzyme. Similar assays are also warranted for DAGLβ which was the aim of this study. We first adapted previously reported DAGLα membrane assays (using PNPB and DiFMUO as substrates) to measure recombinant DAGLβ activity in membranes. In contrast to results with DAGLα, both substrates provided a relatively limited signal window for measuring DAGLβ activity, however, an improved window was obtained when employing a third commercially available substrate, EnzChek. In order to further improve on the assay parameters, we successfully purified the glutathione S-transferase (GST) tagged catalytic domain of DAGLβ. Activity of the enzyme was confirmed using EnzChek as well as two DAGL inhibitors . The purified DAGLβ catalytic domain assay described here provides the basis for a relatively clean and convenient assay with the potential to be adapted for high-throughput drug discovery efforts.