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The binding of the excitatory amino acid antagonist DL-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid (DL-APB) to rat brain synaptic plasma membranes was characterized. As determined by Scatchard analysis, the binding was saturable and homogeneous with a Kd = 6.0 microM and Bmax = 380 pmol/mg of protein. The binding was dependent on the presence of Ca2+ and Cl- ions and was diminished upon freezing. The association rate constant was 6.8 X 10(-3) microM-1 min-1, and the dissociation rate constant was 2.0 X 10(-2) min-1. The L isomers of APB, glutamate, and aspartate were more potent as displacers of APB binding than the D isomers. Previously determined inhibition data obtained for APB-sensitive inputs to hippocampal granule cells are compared to the present displacement data in an attempt to identify this binding protein as the recognition site of the receptor mediating the APB-induced inhibition of synaptic transmission. With the exception of kynurenic acid, all compounds examined in both systems were more potent as displacers of APB binding than as inhibitors of synaptic transmission. This difference in potency was most pronounced for agonists at dentate granule cells. L-Glutamate, D-glutamate, and L-glutamate tetrazole were between 140- and 7500-fold more potent as displacers of DL-APB binding than as inhibitors of synaptic transmission. D-2-Amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid and alpha-methyl-APB were between 10- and 20-fold more potent as displacers of binding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Conformationally restricted analogues of 2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid (APB,2) were prepared where the structure of APB was incorporated into cyclopentane (3) or cyclohexane (4) rings. Hydrophosphinylation of the appropriate cycloalkenones followed by Strecker amino acid syntheses provided the desired analogues. Assignments of the relative configurations for 3a (trans), 3b (cis), 4a (cis), and 4b (trans) were determined through 13C NMR studies. Compounds 3b, 4a, and 4b possessed low activity as inhibitors of excitatory synaptic field potentials in the rat hippocampal perforant path. Analogues 4a and 4b also showed little activity in displacing [3H]APB from synaptic plasma membranes. The cyclopentyl APB analogue 36, on the other hand, was extremely potent in inhibiting the binding of [3H]APB, possessing an IC50 = 4.7 microM, thus giving further credence to the idea that the APB binding site in the rat brain synaptosomal membrane preparation is not the same as the receptor mediating APB-induced inhibition of the lateral perforant path. Of the four cyclic APB analogues, 3a most resembled APB in its spectrum of biological activity. It showed significant potency (IC50 = 130 microM) in inhibiting lateral entorhinal projections to hippocampal granule cells. Analogous to APB, 3a also showed selectivity for the lateral perforant path over the medial perforant path. Its activity in the radioligand binding assay paralleled its activity in inhibiting the lateral perforant path. It thus appears that 3a comes closest to mimicking the active conformation of APB and suggests that a folded conformation wherein the amino and phosphonate moieties are in a cis relationship to one another may approximate the active conformation of APB.

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