Abstract

The vanilloid receptor VR1 is a polymodal nociceptor sensitive to capsaicin, protons, and heat. Because VR1 represents an attractive therapeutic target for conditions ranging from long-term pain to bladder hyperreflexia, we and other groups have sought to develop novel ligands with enhanced potencies and novel pharmacological properties. Here, we characterize two compounds, N-[2-(3,4-dimethylbenzyl)-3-(pivaloyloxy)propyl]-N′-[4-(methylsulfonylamino)benzyl]thiourea (JYL827) and N-(4-tert-butylbenzyl)-N′-[3-methoxy-4-(methylsulfonylamino)benzyl]thiourea (JYL1511), that function as partial agonists for rat VR1 heterologously expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Both compounds showed substantially enhanced potency, inhibiting [³H] resiniferatoxin binding with K_i values of 29.3 ± 7.6 and 50.4 ± 16.5 nM, respectively, compared with 1810 ± 270 nM for capsaicin. The compounds showed different extents of partial agonism, 6.8 ± 0.7% and 17.4 ± 0.6%, respectively, and the expected corresponding degrees of partial antagonism (93.9 ± 0.9 and 84.1 ± 3.2%, respectively). Their IC₅₀ values for antagonism of ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ uptake in response to capsaicin were 67.3 ± 24.9 nM and 3.4 ± 0.5 nM, respectively. Protons, temperature, and protein kinase C all function as coactivators/modulators of rVR1. All enhanced the extent of partial agonism of JYL827 and JYL1511. Thus, at pH 5.5, for example, the extents of partial agonism increased to 54.9 ± 2.5% and to 90.7 ± 1.7%, respectively, relative to the response elicited by 300 nM capsaicin. The extents of partial antagonism decreased correspondingly. Compounds such as JYL827 and JYL1511 now permit exploration of the potential utility of partial agonists of rVR1 in animal models. Our results emphasize, moreover, the strong dependence of such partial agonists on other modulators of rVR1 and predict that their biological behavior will depend strongly on biological context.