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Discovery and biological evaluation of potent, selective, orally bioavailable, pyrazine-based blockers of the Nav1.8 sodium channel with efficacy in a model of neuropathic pain
Scanio, MJC., Shi, L., Drizin, I., Gregg, RJ., Atkinson, RN., Thomas, J., Johnson, MS., Chapman, ML., Liu, D., Krambis, MJ., Liu, Y., Shieh, CC., Zhang, XF., Simler, GH., Joshi, S., Honore, P., Marsh, KC., Knox, A., Werness, S., ... Kort, ME. (2010). Discovery and biological evaluation of potent, selective, orally bioavailable, pyrazine-based blockers of the Nav1.8 sodium channel with efficacy in a model of neuropathic pain. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 18(22), 7816-7825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2010.09.057
Nav1.8 (also known as PN3) is a tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTx-r) voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) that is highly expressed on small diameter sensory neurons. It has been implicated in the pathophysiology of inflammatory and neuropathic pain, and we envisioned that selective blockade of Nav1.8 would be analgesic, while reducing adverse events typically associated with non-selective VGSC blocking therapeutic agents. Herein, we describe the preparation and characterization of a series of 6-aryl-2-pyrazinecarboxamides, which are potent blockers of the human Nav1.8 channel and also block TTx-r sodium currents in rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons. Selected derivatives display selectivity versus human Nav1.2. We further demonstrate that an example from this series is orally bioavailable and produces antinociceptive activity in vivo in a rodent model of neuropathic pain following oral administration.