Christoph Enzensperger

• PD Dr. rer. nat. Dipl. Ing. Pharm. Chem. (FH)
• Professor at Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Branched poly(ethylene imine) (bPEI) is frequently used in RNA interference (RNAi) experiments as a cationic polymer for the delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) because of its ability to form stable polyplexes that facilitate siRNA uptake. However, the use of bPEI in gene delivery is limited by its cytotoxicity and a need for target specifici...

Bisindolylmaleimide I (BIM-I) is a competitive pan protein kinase C inhibitor with anti-inflammatory and anti-metastatic properties, suggested to treat inflammatory diseases and various cancer entities. However, despite its therapeutic potential, BIM-I has two major drawbacks, i.e., it has a poor water solubility, and it binds the human ether-à-go-...

β-Carbolines (BC) are pyridoindoles, which can be found in various exogenous and endogenous sources. Recent studies revealed neurostimulative, neuroprotective, neuroregenerative and anti-inflammatory effects of 9-methyl-BC (9-Me-BC). Additionally, 9-me-BC increased neurite outgrowth of dopaminergic neurons independent of dopamine uptake into these...

Dibenzo- and benzindolo-azecines represent a class of potential neuroleptics. To characterize the effectiveness at the dopamine and 5-HT2A-receptor representative structures were synthesized and tested by radio ligand binding studies, in vivo and in vitro studies. Neuroleptic potency and the risk of side effects of the prodrug 7-methyl-5,6,7,8,9,14...

Neurodegenerative diseases represent a challenge for biomedical research due to their high prevalence and lack of mechanism-based treatments. Because of the complex pathology of neurodegenerative disorders, multifunctional drugs have been increasingly recognized as potential treatments. We identified homobivalent γ-carbolinium salts as potent inihi...

Designing ligands with D1/D5 subtype selectivity is a challenge because of the high identity within the receptor helices. Based on the lead compounds 1 - 3, the thieno-benzazecine regioisomers 4, 5 were synthesized and biologically evaluated for their affinity towards the five dopamine receptor subtypes utilizing a radioligand binding affinity tech...

Determining the individual roles of the two dopamine D1-like receptors (D1R and D5R) on sodium transport in the human renal proximal tubule has been complicated by their structural and functional similarity. Here we used a novel D5R-selective antagonist (LE-PM436) and D1R- or D5R-specific gene silencing to determine second messenger coupling pathwa...

Figure S1. Increase in D1R and D5R Co-immunoprecipitation after D1-like receptor agonist stimulation with fenoldopam (FEN). Renal proximal tubule cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with either a rabbit polyclonal anti-D1R antibody or an equal amount of non-specific rabbit IgG (NSR IgG) and western blotted for D5R using a goat polyclonal antibody....

Receptor-subtype selectivity is an important issue in medicinal chemistry and can become very difficult to achieve if the actual binding pockets of the respective receptors are highly conserved. For such cases, known unselective ligands could be equipped with a spacer that sticks outside the actual orthosteric binding pocket towards the extracellul...

Notch signaling has a pivotal role in numerous cell-fate decisions, and its aberrant activity leads to developmental disorders and cancer. To identify molecules that influence Notch signaling, we screened nearly 17,000 compounds using automated microscopy to monitor the trafficking and processing of a ligand-independent Notch-enhanced GFP (eGFP) re...

Derivatives of two novel heterocyclic ring systems were synthesized and their affinities for dopamine receptors were measured. The compounds were obtained by reacting histamine with 2-(2-bromoethyl)benzaldehyde including an atypical Pictet-Spengler condensation, which afforded basic and not the usual neutral or acidic conditions. The resulting imid...

Serotonin and dopamine play an important role in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Combination of the structural scaffolds of both neurotransmitters in a single molecule lead to aromatic [d,g]-bisannelated azecine derivatives, which have been shown to be nanomolar to subnanomolar dopamine D1-D5 receptor antagonists with a preference for the D1 family...

J. Neurochem. (2012) 121, 924–931. β-Carbolines (BCs) belong to the heterogenous family of carbolines, which have been found exogenously, that is, in various fruits, meats, tobacco smoke, alcohol and coffee, but also endogenously, that is, blood, brain and CSF. These exogenous and endogenous BCs and some of their metabolites can exert neurotoxic ef...

Racemic and enantiopure 8-substituted derivatives of the lead dopamine receptor antagonist LE 300 (1) were prepared, and their affinities for the dopamine receptors (D(1)-D(5)) were tested. The separate enantiomers showed significantly different affinities; the (8S)-methyl and (8R)-hyroxymethyl derivatives where the substituents point below the ref...

The social amoebae (Dictyostelia) use quorum sensing-like communication systems to coordinate the periodic transition from uni- to multicellularity. The monophyletic descent of the Dictyostelia provides a unique opportunity to study the origin and adaptive evolution of such intercellular communication systems. We determined that the ability of aggr...

Dibenzazecines are a novel class of dopamine receptor antagonists, characterized by their high affinities as well as their tendency for D(1) selectivity. Hitherto, the most active dibenzazecines were phenolic in nature; a 3-OH substituent was found to result in the highest affinities. However, the phenolic nature of these compounds mostly renders t...

To further investigate SAR in the class of azecine-type dopamine receptor antagonists, we synthesized a series of derivatives, substituted at the indole-NH of the lead compound LE300 by different alkyl chains in addition to phenylpropyl, allyl, propargyl, and acetyl residues. The affinities of the target compounds for all human dopamine receptors (...

Based on the well known biological versatility of the imidazoline nucleus, we prepared the novel derivatives 3a-k inspired by 2-BFI scaffold to assess imidazoline molecules as D(2)-like dopamine receptor ligands. Conservative chemical modifications of the lead structure, such as the introduction of an hydroxy group in the aromatic ring alone or ass...

Specific serotonin receptor agonists and antagonists are marketed with respect to various diseases, most prominently severe emesis. To identify new chemical classes with affinity for the serotonin 5-HT3 channel, several compounds were synthesized which can be structurally classified as arylalkylamines, azecines, quinolizines and beta-carbolines. Th...

The affinities of tetrahydroprotoberberines for dopamine receptors dramatically decrease after cleaving the central C-N bond to the analogous ten-membered dibenzo[c,g]azecines [1]. In the present work, we also synthesized eleven-membered homologues of these heterocycles and measured the affinities of the resulting dibenzazaundecenes and their under...

J. Neurochem. (2010) 113, 1659–1675. β-Carbolines (BCs) are potential endogenous and exogenous neurotoxins that may contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. However, we recently demonstrated protective and stimulatory effects of 9-methyl-BC (9-me-BC) in primary dopaminergic culture. In the present study, treatment with 9-me-BC unmaske...

On the basis of the D(1/5)-selective dopamine antagonist LE 300 (1), an indolo[3,2-f]benzazecine derivative, we changed the annulation pattern of the heterocycles. The target compounds represent novel heterocyclic ring systems. The most constrained indolo[4,3a,3-ef]benzazecine 2 was inactive, but the indolo[4,3a,3-fg]benzazacycloundecene 3 showed a...

The moderately flexible 7-methyl-5,6,7,8,9,14-hexahydrodibenz[d,g]azecines are known to be potent dopamine receptor antagonists, whereas the corresponding rigid dibenzo[d,g]quinolizines are inactive. We built the scaffolds of dibenzo[c,g], [c,f] and [d,f]azecines and together with their ring closed, more rigid precursors, evaluated the affinities f...

Dibenzo- and benzindolo-azecines represent a novel class of high-affinity dopamine receptor antagonists. To further characterize these drugs as potential neuroleptics, we selected a set of azecine derivatives and ring expanded homologues and we measured their antagonist activity at the 5-HT(2A) receptor in the porcine coronary artery. SARs found fo...

Some beta-carbolines (BC) are natural constituents in the human brain deriving from tryptophan, tryptamine, and serotonin. In vitro and animal experiments suggest that BC-cations may cause neurodegeneration with a higher vulnerability of dopaminergic than of other neurons. Despite the possible implication of the BC-cations in the pathogenesis of Pa...

Oxygenated 7-methyl-5,6,7,8,9,14-hexahydrodibenz[d,g]azecines are potent dopamine receptor antagonists, preferentially at D1/D5. We synthesized the hydroxylated, methoxylated, and chlorinated 11-membered and 12-membered homologues of these 10-membered heterocycles. Their affinities for the human cloned D1-D5 receptors (radioligand binding) and func...

Mit verschiedenen Antidepressiva und Neuroleptika kann eine nachhaltige Sedierung und damit ein erleichtertes Ein- und Durchschlafen erreicht werden. Der Einsatz dieser hochwirksamen Verbindungen ist gerechtfertigt bei der Behandlung von Schlafstörungen im Zusammenhang mit einer Depression, bei Unruhe- und Erregungszuständen als Begleiterscheinunge...

Relying on the high affinities of the benz-indolo-azecine LE 300 (1) and the hydroxylated dibenz-azecine LE 404 (2b) for the D1/D5 receptor subtypes, we synthesized methoxylated, hydroxylated and an indole-N methylated derivatives of 1 (Fig. 1). Hydroxylation of azecine derivatives is beneficial with regard to the affinities and selectivities for a...

Enlarging the 10-membered ring of 7-methyl-6,7,8,9,14,15-hexahydro-5H-indolo[3,2-f][3]benzazecine (1, LE 300) yielded two homologue antagonists. Their affinities and inhibitory activities at D(1)-D(5) receptors were measured by radioligand binding experiments and a functional Ca(2+) assay. Compared to 1, phenylpropyl homologue 3 was superior in sel...

Hydroxylated, methoxylated, and/or chlorinated 7-methyl-5,6,7,8,9,14-hexahydrodibenz[d,g]azecines were generally synthesized out of substituted 2-phenylethylamines and isochromanones by Bischler-Napieralski cyclization of the resulting benzamides to dibenzoquinolizines and the quaternization and cleavage of the central C-N bond under Birch conditio...

2-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-N-[2-phenoxyethyl]benzamides and 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-[2-phenylpropyl]benzamides have been prepared from 2-phenoxyethyl- or 2-phenylpropylamines and isochroman-1-one. Applying Bischler-Napieralski reaction, a tetracyclic isoquinolino[2,1-d][1,4]benzoxazepine and a isoquinolino[1,2-a][2]benzazepine could be obtained. The titled co...

Die Klasse der Azecine stellt eine neuartige Gruppe von Dopamin Rezeptor Antagonisten dar, deren Affinitätsprofil durch eine Selektivität zur D1 Familie gekennzeichnet ist. Die vorliegende Arbeit setzte sich zum Ziel, durch strukturelle Modifikationen zweier Leitverbindungen - LE 300 und LE 404 -, die Kenntnisse über Struktur-Wirkungsbeziehungen in...