Elucidation of the structural requirements for the bioactivation of mianserin in-vitro

The aim of this study was to investigate structure-activity relationships among a series of compounds related to the antidepressant drug, mianserin, with respect to their ability to produce cytotoxic metabolites. Human peripheral lymphocytes were used as target cells and these were exposed to the individual compounds, in the presence or absence of a drug metabolizing system derived from human liver. The individual enantiomers of mianserin showed differences in their cytotoxicity profiles; the R-(-) isomer giving NADPH-dependent cytotoxicity while the S-(+) isomer showed direct cytotoxicity at high concentrations. Cytotoxicity was reduced by removal from mianserin of the nitrogen atom at the 5 position and by substitution of a methyl group for a hydrogen atom at position 14b. In contrast, insertion of an oxygen atom at position 10 of the drug molecule, precluding the formation of a carbonium ion, had little effect on cytotoxic metabolite formation. The data are consistent with the proposal that one or more iminium ions derived from mianserin are responsible for the cytotoxicity observed in this in-vitro system and that appropriate chemical modification may preclude bioactivation of mianserin by P450 enzymes.