Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2009) 30: 559-566; doi: 10.1038/aps.2009.43

Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2009) 30: 559-566; doi: 10.1038/aps.2009.43

Original Article

Addictive evaluation of cholic acid-verticinone ester, a potential cough therapeutic agent with agonist action of opioid receptor

Jiu-liang ZHANG, Hui WANG, Chang CHEN, Hui-fang PI, Han-li RUAN, Peng ZHANG*, Ji-zhou WU

Hubei Key Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China

Aim: The purpose of this work was to search for potential drugs with potent antitussive and expectorant activities as well as a low toxicity, but without addictive properties. Cholic acid-verticinone ester (CA-Ver) was synthesized based on the clearly elucidated antitussive and expectorant activities of verticinone in bulbs of Fritillaria and different bile acids in Snake Bile. In our previous study, CA-Ver showed a much more potent activity than codeine phosphate. This study was carried out to investigate the central antitussive mechanism and the addictive evaluation of CA-Ver.

Methods: Testing on a capsaicin-induced cough model of mice pretreated with naloxone, a non-selective opioid receptor antagonist, was performed for the observation of CA-Ver’s central antitussive mechanism. We then took naloxone-induced withdrawal tests of mice for the judgment of CA-Ver’s addiction. Lastly, we determined the opioid dependence of CA-Ver in the guinea pig ileum.

Results: The test on the capsaicin-induced cough model showed that naloxone could block the antitussive effect of CA-Ver, suggesting the antitussive mechanism of CA-Ver was related to the central opioid receptors. The naloxone-urged withdrawal tests of the mice showed that CA-Ver was not addictive, and the test of the opioid dependence in the guinea pig ileum showed that CA-Ver had no withdrawal response.

Conclusion: These findings suggested that CA-Ver deserved attention for its potent antitussive effects related to the central opioid receptors, but without addiction, and had a good development perspective.

Keywords: cholic acid-verticinone ester; addictive evaluation; opioid receptors; agonist action; naloxone; ileum; opioid dependence; addiction

This project was supported by the Fund of the Key Project of the Education Ministry, China, 2006, and the Fund of the International Cooperation Project of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, China (China and Korea, No 2006DFA33210). The present study has applied for a patent in China (application No 200810048722.9).
The authors are grateful to the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Analytical and Testing Center for analytical support.

* Correspondence to Peng ZHANG.
Emal tryh@mails.tjmu.edu.cn
Received 2009-01-11 Accepted 2009-03-24

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