[18F]FPEB Binding to Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype
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Dupont et al. Translational Psychiatry (2021) 11:66 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-01152-2 Translational Psychiatry ARTICLE Open Access Study of influence of the glutamatergic concentration of [18F]FPEB binding to metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 with N-acetylcysteine challenge in rats and SRM/PET study in human healthy volunteers Anne-Claire Dupont 1,2, Sophie Serrière2, Laurent Barantin 2, Johnny Vercouillie 2,3, Clovis Tauber2, Valérie Gissot 3, Sylvie Bodard2, Gabrielle Chicheri2,SylvieChalon 2, Pr Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault2,4, Pr Maria-Joao Santiago-Ribeiro2,3,5 and Nicolas Arlicot 1,2,3 Abstract Altered glutamate signaling is thought to be involved in a myriad of psychiatric disorders. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with [18F]FPEB allows assessing dynamic changes in metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) availability underlying neuropathological conditions. The influence of endogenous glutamatergic levels into receptor binding has not been well established yet. The purpose of this study was to explore the [18F]FPEB binding regarding to physiological fluctuations or acute changes of glutamate synaptic concentrations by a translational approach; a PET/MRS imaging study in 12 healthy human volunteers combined to a PET imaging after an N- 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; acetylcysteine (NAc) pharmacological challenge in rodents. No significant differences were observed with small-animal PET in the test and retest conditions on the one hand and the NAc condition on the other hand for any regions. To test for an interaction of mGuR5 density and glutamatergic concentrations in healthy subjects, we correlated the [18F] FPEB BPND with Glu/Cr, Gln/Cr, Glx/Cr ratios in the anterior cingulate cortex VOI; respectively, no significance correlation has been revealed (Glu/Cr: r = 0.51, p = 0.09; Gln/Cr: r = −0.46, p = 0.13; Glx/Cr: r = −0.035, p = 0.92).These data suggest that the in vivo binding of [18F]FPEB to an allosteric site of the mGluR5 is not modulated by endogenous glutamate in vivo. Thus, [18F]FPEB appears unable to measure acute fluctuations in endogenous levels of glutamate. Introduction dysfunction. Indeed, glutamate is only removed from the Glutamate, the most abundant neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft thanks to two major astrocytic transporters, central nervous system (CNS), is primarily involved in the namely GLT-1 (EAAT2) and GLAST (EAAT1), regulating synaptic excitatory activity1. Thus, it intervenes in several receptor’s excitability3. Alterations of this glutamatergic brain functions such as memory, learning, behavior, and homeostasis may lead to various neurological and psychia- – movement2. However, when present at an excessive con- tric disorders4 9. Due to their substantial role in brain centration, glutamate may contribute to neuronal functions, elucidating the mechanism underlying glutamate receptor’s action would clarify glutamate’s role in physiolo- gical and pathological conditions. There are two main Correspondence: Nicolas Arlicot ([email protected]) classes of glutamate receptors: (i) the ionotropic receptors 1Service de Radiopharmacie, CHRU de Tours, 37044 Tours, France 2UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a linktotheCreativeCommons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Dupont et al. Translational Psychiatry (2021) 11:66 Page 2 of 10 receptor (AMPA), Kainate receptor and N-methyl-d-aspar- concentration of PET radiotracer23. Hence, several tate receptor (NMDA)), involved in the fast-acting radiotracers targeting mGluR5 allosteric binding sites excitatory effects and, (ii) the metabotropic receptors have been proposed to investigate in vivo glutamate (mGluR), mainly implicated in the modulation of the neurotransmission by PET. The first suitable tracer for glutamatergic neurotransmission. Those metabotropic both preclinical and clinical use, namely [11C]ABP688, glutamate receptors are classified into three subtypes, was developed in 200624. Despite its favorable character- based on both their structure and functions: group I istics, its major limitation remains the short half-life of its (mGluR1 and mGluR5), group II (mGluR2 and mGluR3), radioisotope (about 20 min), limiting its use to centers with and group III (mGluR4, and mGluR6–8). The mGluR a cyclotron on site. Therefore, and to get around this belong to the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which drawback, two fluorinated radiotracers have recently been represent the largest class of drug targets, accounting for developed: [18F]PSS232 and [18F]FPEB. [18F]FPEB (3-[(18) more than 40% of marketed drugs10. Among them, F]fluoro-5-(2-pyridinylethynyl)benzonitrile) is a negative metabotropic glutamate receptors subtype 5 (mGluR5) modulator of the mGluR5 allosteric sites with an excellent 2+ have been demonstrated to play crucial roles in synaptic pharmacological profile with a human mGluR5 Ca Ic50 11,12 plasticity and neuronal development , and have espe- flux of 0.66 nM, a Ki in rats of 0.20 nM, and a logP value of cially emerged as a promising target for a broad range of 2.825. Thanks to its favorable reversible kinetics, a high neurological disorders. Widely expressed and mainly specificity, and the absence of brain radiometabolites26, postsynaptic throughout the cerebral cortex, corpus [18F]FPEB has been widely used to study in vivo dysfunc- striatum, hippocampus, olfactory bulb, caudate nucleus, tional glutamate transmission associated with neu- nucleus accumbens but also in non-neuronal cells includ- ropsychiatric including Parkinson’s disease (PD)27,major ing astrocytes and microglia, mGluR5 have been implicated depressive disorder28, addictions (alcohol)29, and autism30. in the pathogenesis of numerous psychiatric, neurological, The lack of sleep31 or smoking or a treatment by gluta- – and neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophre- mate modulators32 36 could disturb glutamate balance and nia, addiction, anxiety, depression, PD, fragile X syndrome knowledge is lacking as to whether these endogenous – (FXS), or autism spectrum disorders (ASD)2,13 17 Firstly, fluctuations could hold sway over the mGluR5 allosteric drug development programs targeting mGluR5 were binding. Numerous studies with [11C]ABP688 or [18F] interested in the orthosteric site of the receptor. However, PSS232 radiotracers based on pharmacological challenges recent findings have clearly demonstrated that allosteric that modulate endogenous glutamate levels attempted to modulators that interact with binding sites distinct from provide insight into glutamate receptor availability for sev- – the endogenous agonist glutamate had better potential. eral PET mGluR5 radioligands37 40, but only one investi- Indeed, they exhibit numerous advantages including higher gated whether [18F]FPEB could detect ketamine-induced subtype selectivity, better blood‐brain-barrier penetration, changes in mGluR5 in healthy subjects41.Conflicting results and absence of desensitization which is caused by were highlighted regarding both tracers and animal species. orthosteric ligands after repeated administrations18,19.An One PET study showed that pharmacological challenge allosteric modulator can potentiate glutamate response in with N-acetylcysteine (NAc), known to indirectly increase the case of positive allosteric modulator (PAM) or reduce extrasynaptic glutamate release through activation of the glutamate response in the case of negative allosteric cystine-glutamate antiporter (xc-)32, produced a decrease in modulator (NAM)18. NAMs (e.g., basimglurant, mavoglur- the binding of [11C]ABP688 in baboons42. In contrast, ant, and dipraglurant) were the first mGluR5 allosteric repeated studies in both rats39 and Rhesus monkeys40 – modulators evaluated into clinical trials19 22. showed no effect of pharmacological challenge on [11C] In relation to these therapeutic trials, intense efforts ABP688 binding. Therefore, assessing the [18F]FPEB bind- have been made to develop biomarkers and companion ing behavior with glutamate shift concentration seems to be tests, including for noninvasive techniques allowing glu- valuable regarding its large use in clinical trials. The pur- tamatergic transmission imaging. poseofthepresentstudywasthereforetoexplorethe Positron emission tomography (PET) utilizes positron sensitivity of [18F]FPEB binding to fluctuations of glutamate emitter labeled compound to provide valuable informa- synaptic concentrations using a translational approach. We tion about the target availability under normal and firstly used a combined PET/magnetic resonance spectro- pathological conditions,