Dizocilpine (INN), also known as MK-801, is a pore blocker of the N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, a glutamate receptor, discovered by a team at Merck in 1982. Glutamate is the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter. The channel is normally blocked with a magnesium ion and requires depolarization of the neuron to remove the magnesium and allow the glutamate to open the channel, causing an influx of calcium, which then leads to subsequent depolarization. Dizocilpine binds inside the ion channel of the receptor at several of PCP's binding sites thus preventing the flow of ions, including calcium (Ca2+), through the channel. Dizocilpine blocks NMDA receptors in a use- and voltage-dependent manner, since the channel must open for the drug to bind inside it. The drug acts as a potent anti-convulsant and probably has dissociative anesthetic properties, but it is not used clinically for this purpose because of the discovery of brain lesions, called Olney's lesions (see below), in laboratory rats. Dizocilpine is also associated with a number of negative side effects, including cognitive disruption and psychotic-spectrum reactions. It inhibits the induction of long term potentiation and has been found to impair the acquisition of difficult, but not easy, learning tasks in rats and primates. Because of these effects of dizocilpine, the NMDA receptor pore blocker ketamine is used instead as a dissociative anesthetic in human medical procedures. While ketamine may also trigger temporary psychosis in certain individuals, its short half-life and lower potency make it a much safer clinical option. However, dizocilpine is the most frequently used uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist in animal models to mimic psychosis for experimental purposes.
Dizocilpine has also been found to act as a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist. It has been shown to bind to and inhibit the serotonin and dopamine transporters as well.
An animal model of schizophrenia
Dizocilpine has a great deal of potential to be used in research in creating animal models of schizophrenia. Unlike dopaminergic agonists, which mimic only the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, a single injection of dizocilpine was successful in modelling both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Another study found that, although repeated low doses of dizocilpine were only successful in mimicking behavioral changes such as a slight hyperlocomotion and decreased prepulse inhibition, repeated administration of a higher dose mimicked both the above changes as well as the neurochemical alterations found in first-episode schizophrenic patients. Not only has temporary use been shown to mimic psychosis but chronic administration in laboratory animals resulted in similar neuropathological changes as in schizophrenia.
Possible future medical uses
The effects of dizocilpine at NMDA receptors are clear and significant. NMDA receptors are key in the progression of excitotoxicity (a process in which an excessive amount of extracellular glutamate overexcites glutamate receptors and harms neurons). Thus NMDA receptor antagonists including dizocilpine have been extensively studied for use in treatment of diseases with excitotoxic components, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Dizocilpine has shown effectiveness in protecting neurons in cell culture and animal models of excitotoxic neurodegeneration. The administration of dizocilpine protected the hippocampus from ischemia-induced neurodegeneration in the gerbil. The ED50 (effective dose 50) for neuroprotection was 0.3 mg/kg and the majority of the animals were protected against the ischemia-induced damage at doses greater than or equal to 3 mg/kg, when dizocilpine was given one hour prior to the occlusion of the carotid arteries, although other studies have shown protection up to 24 hours post-insult. Excitatory amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate, are released in toxic amounts when the brain is deprived of blood and oxygen and NMDA antagonists are thought to prevent the neurodegeneration through the inhibition of these receptors.