Screening for New Inhibitors of Glycine Transporter 1 and 2 by Means of MS Binding Assays

Abstract

A straightforward screening of a compound library comprising 2439 substances for the identification of new inhibitors for the neurotransmitter transporters GlyT1 and GlyT2 is described. Screening and full-scale competition experiments were performed using recently developed GlyT1 and GlyT2 MS Binding Assays. That way for both targets, GlyT1 and GlyT2, ligands were identified, which exhibited affinities (pK_i values) in the low micromolar to sub-micromolar range. The majority of these binders exhibit new chemical scaffolds in the class of GlyT1 and GlyT2 inhibitors, which could be of interest for the development of new ligands with improved affinities for the target proteins. Additionally, compounds with excellent fluorescent properties were found for GlyT2, which renders them promising compounds for future fluorescence-based techniques. All in all, this study demonstrates that MS Binding Assays represent a powerful technology platform also well suited for the screening of compound libraries in a highly reliable and effective manner.

Keywords: binding assay; glycine transporter; library screening; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry.