Structure-epileptogenicity relationship of quinolones with special reference to their interaction with gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor sites

Abstract

The relationship between the chemical structure and epileptogenic activity of quinolones was investigated. When the quinolones were administered intravenously to mice concomitantly with oral biphenylacetic acid, a major metabolite of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug fenbufen, enoxacin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and pipemidic acid, which have an unsubstituted piperazine moiety at the 7 position of their parent nuclei, provoked clonic convulsions and subsequent death at doses of 6.25 mg/kg or more in a dose-dependent manner. AM-1091 and T-3262, which have an unsubstituted aminopyrrolidine moiety at their 7 positions, were less epileptogenic than the compounds listed above were. In contrast, ofloxacin, AT-4140, and nalidixic acid, which have piperazine substituted with methyl group(s) or no piperazine moiety at their 7 positions, never induced convulsions, even at doses of 100 mg/kg. Lomefloxacin, which has a 3-methyl piperazine, however, provoked convulsions at doses of 6.25 mg/kg or more. In the presence of biphenylacetic acid, all the test quinolones except nalidixic acid competitively inhibited [3H]muscimol binding to receptor sites for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in vitro. Nalidixic acid did not inhibit the binding at all, even at the highest concentration tested, i.e., 10(-4) M. The 50% inhibition doses for [3H]muscimol binding varied within 4 orders of magnitude or more, between 10(-8) to more than 10(-4) M for various compounds, and there was a close correlation between the epileptogenic activities of quinolones and their inhibitory potencies for [3H]muscimol binding to GABA receptor sites. These results indicate that the epileptogenic activity of quinolones possibly relates to the GABA-like structures of substituents at their 7 positions, which act as antagonists of GABA receptors.