title: Somnogenic activity of muramyl peptide-derived immune adjuvants.
abstract: Muramyl peptides (MPs) possess immunostimulatory, pyrogenic and somnogenic activities. The structural requirements of MPs for each of these activities are different though certain MPs, e.g. muramyl dipeptide (NAM-L-ala-D-isogln) possess all three activities. Several MPs are proposed for use as immune adjuvants; somnogenic and pyrogenic activities would be considered adverse side effects of such compounds. We report here that some of the putative adjuvants, GIF101, WG209 and MDP-threonine lack somnogenic and pyrogenic activities. Current results also expand our understanding of the structural requirements for these activities. Major findings are that the addition of the dipeptide L-ala-D-isogln to NAG-NAM-L-ala-D-isogln blocks the activity of the latter compound and that the amino sugar moiety of MPs, NAM, is unnecessary for somnogenic and pyrogenic activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Tennessee, Memphis 38163.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Johannsen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Obál
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kapás
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kovalzon
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Krueger
mesh_terms: D000119:Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011749:Pyrogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D011817:Rabbits; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D007375:Interleukin-1; D011749:Pyrogens; D000119:Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine