title: Targeting cholinesterase inhibitor poisoning with a novel blocker against both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors.
abstract: Clinicians have been treating poisoning by acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) for more than half a century. However, the current atropine-centered therapy still cannot protect completely against all ChEIs, and poisoning by ChEIs is fatal in more than 20% of cases. Various solutions that try to enhance atropine's antimuscarinic effects have been used, but these fail to increase the antidotal effect, and their too potent muscarinic antagonism may produce incapacitating side effects. We hypothesized that, in the treatment of ChEI poisoning, the high death rate may not be attributed to the insufficient muscarinic antagonism but to the lack of nicotinic antagonism. To test this hypothesis, we designed and synthesized benthiactzine, a drug that blocks both muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). A specific [(3)H]quinuclidinyl benzilate-binding assay showed that benthiactzine was much weaker than atropine in binding to five different mAChR subtypes or to mAChRs expressed in 14 different tissues. Electrophysiological measures were used to identify and characterize benthiactzine's antinicotinic effect on three typical neuronal nAChRs subtypes, alpha4beta2, alpha4beta4, and alpha7, which are expressed heterogenously in SH-EP1 cells. Finally, benthiactzine afforded better protection than atropine against the most lethal ChEI, VX or sarin, in a mouse model. These results indicate that the antidotal effect may not be directly related to the antidote's antimuscarinic effect and that the antinicotinic effect may provide additional protection against ChEI poisoning. This new drug may benefit future antidote discovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 27 Taiping Road, Beijing 100850, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wangqian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xulin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001561:Benzilates / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002460:Cell Line; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000506:poisoning*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods; D011813:Quinuclidinyl Benzilate / Q000032:analysis; D011869:Radioligand Assay; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic / Q000187:drug effects*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000187:drug effects*; D012524:Sarin / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
chemical_list: D001285:Atropine; D001561:Benzilates; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds; D011813:Quinuclidinyl Benzilate; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D012524:Sarin; C552181:benthiactzine; C009680:VX-agent