4-Aminoquinolines: novel nociceptin antagonists with analgesic activity

Small-molecule nociceptin antagonists were synthesized to examine their therapeutic potential. After a 4-aminoquinoline derivative was found to bind with the human ORL(1) receptor, a series of 4-aminoquinolines and related compounds were synthesized and their binding was evaluated. Elucidation of structure-activity relationships eventually led to the optimum compounds. One of these compounds, N-(4-amino-2-methylquinolin-6-yl)-2-(4-ethylphenoxymethyl)benzamide hydrochloride (11) not only antagonized nociceptin-induced allodynia in mice but also showed analgesic effect in a hot plate test using mice and in a formalin test using rats. Its analgesic effect was not antagonized by the opioid antagonist naloxone. These results indicate that this nociceptin antagonist has the potential to become a novel type of analgesic that differs from mu-opioid agonists.