A joint research group of Kanazawa University, Osaka University, Tohoku University, and Hokkaido University has organically synthesized an analog of oxytocin (OT), which is an important hormone for the regulation of social behavior, and is an endogenous OT naturally produced in mice. We have newly found a compound that acts for a longer period of time and has a greater effect.
OT is a peptide hormone that acts on reproductive organs such as the uterus and mammary glands, the heart and the central nervous system. OT also has a neural activity-regulating effect and plays an important role in social communication such as social behavior and cognition / memory of many mammalian species, and is also called "love hormone".Recently, it has been shown that it may be effective for social exchange disorders, which are the central symptoms of psychiatric disorders such as autism, but conventional OT-like compounds have been able to prove sufficient pharmacological effects. However, new OT analogs were expected.
Therefore, this collaborative research group has added glycine fluorinated benzene to the 7th amino acid "proline" based on carvetocin, which is an OT analog that changes the -SS- structure to -SC-, which forms the cyclic structure of OT. OT analogs to which hydroxypropylated glycine was added were synthesized and designated as "Compound 2" and "Compound 5", respectively.Interestingly, studies have shown that these compounds are more potent than OT and are expected to last longer.
Based on this result, it is expected that these novel synthetic compounds will be effectively utilized as new drugs involved in the improvement of symptoms such as autism spectrum disorder in the future.
