1. Academic Validation
  2. Tesofensine, a novel triple monoamine re-uptake inhibitor with anti-obesity effects: dopamine transporter occupancy as measured by PET

Tesofensine, a novel triple monoamine re-uptake inhibitor with anti-obesity effects: dopamine transporter occupancy as measured by PET

  • Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014 Feb;24(2):251-61. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.10.007.
Lieuwe Appel 1 Mats Bergström 2 Jørgen Buus Lassen 3 Bengt Långström 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 PET Centre, Department of Medical Imaging, Uppsala University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden; Section of Nuclear Medicine and PET, Department of Radiology, Oncology, and Radiation Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
  • 3 NeuroSearch A/S, Pederstrupvej 93, DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark.
  • 4 Department of Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET & Cyclotron Unit, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Abstract

Tesofensine (TE) is a novel triple monoamine re-uptake inhibitor inducing a potent inhibition of the re-uptake process in the synaptic cleft of the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. In recent preclinical and clinical evaluations TE showed a robust anti-obesity effect, but the specific mechanism of this triple monoamine re-uptake inhibitor still needs to be further elucidated. This positron emission tomography (PET) study, using [¹¹C]βCIT-FE, aimed to assess the degree of the Dopamine Transporter (DAT) occupancy, at constant TE plasma levels, following different oral, multiple doses of TE during totally 8-12 days. In addition, the relationships between DAT occupancy and TE plasma concentrations, or doses, were investigated to enable assessment of DAT occupancies in subsequent clinical trials. The results demonstrated that TE induced a dose-dependent blockade of DAT following multiple doses of 0.125-1 mg TE at anticipated steady-state conditions. The mean striatal DAT occupancy varied dose-dependently between 18% and 77%. A sigmoid E(max) model well described the relationship between striatal DAT occupancy and TE plasma concentrations or doses. It was estimated that the maximum achievable DAT occupancy was about 80% and that half of this effect was accomplished by approximately 0.25 mg TE and a plasma drug concentration of 4 ng/ml. The results indicated an important mechanism of action of TE on DAT. Further, these results suggest that the previously reported dose-dependent weight loss, in TE treated subjects, was in part mediated by an up-regulation of dopaminergic pathways due to enhanced amounts of synaptic dopamine after blockade of DAT.

Keywords

Chronic treatment; DAT; Dopamine re-uptake; Drug development; Neurochemistry; Positron emission tomography.

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