Differing pharmacological activities of thiazolidinone analogs at the FSH receptor

The follicle-stimulating hormone is critical to reproductive success and is an important target for development of novel reproductive therapies. We have recently reported the development of thiazolidinone positive allosteric modulators of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor. Here, we demonstrate that discrete modifications in the chemical structure of the thiazolidinone agonists produced compounds with different pharmacological properties. Positive allosteric modulators activated adenylate cyclase signaling (Gs). Using an ADP-ribosylation assay we found that both differing glycosylated variants of human FSH (hFSH) and selected thiazolidinone allosteric modulators of the FSHR induce activation of the Gi signaling pathway. Additionally, we observed that some analogs of this class could activate both pathways. These data suggest that the pharmacological activity of thiazolidinone modulators to the FSHR may be due to the ability of these compounds to induce association of the FSHR with either Gs or Gi signaling pathways in an analog-specific manner.