Anandamide (ANA), also known as N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA), is a fatty acid neurotransmitter. Anandamide was the first endocannabinoid to be discovered: it participates in the body's endocannabinoid system by binding to cannabinoid receptors, the same receptors that the psychoactive compound THC in cannabis acts on. Anandamide is found in nearly all tissues in a wide range of animals. Anandamide has also been found in plants, including small amounts in chocolate. The name 'anandamide' is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means "joy, bliss, delight", and amide.
Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics, remedying pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system to block pain signaling to the brain.
URB597 (KDS-4103) is a relatively selective inhibitor of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). FAAH is the primary degradatory enzyme for the endocannabinoid anandamide and, as such, inhibition of FAAH leads to an accumulation of anandamide in the CNS and periphery where it activates cannabinoid receptors. URB597 has been found to elevate anandamide levels and have activity against neuropathic pain in a mouse model.
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a biological system composed of endocannabinoids, which are endogenous lipid-based retrograde neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors (CBRs), and cannabinoid receptor proteins that are expressed throughout the vertebrate central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. The endocannabinoid system remains under preliminary research, but may be involved in regulating physiological and cognitive processes, including fertility, pregnancy, pre- and postnatal development, various activity of immune system, appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory, and in mediating the pharmacological effects of cannabis. The ECS plays an important role in multiple aspects of neural functions, including the control of movement and motor coordination, learning and memory, emotion and motivation, addictive-like behavior and pain modulation, among others.
Fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH is a member of the serine hydrolase family of enzymes. It was first shown to break down anandamide in 1993. In humans, it is encoded by the gene FAAH.
AM404, also known as N-arachidonoylaminophenol, is an active metabolite of paracetamol (acetaminophen), responsible for all or part of its analgesic action and anticonvulsant effects. Chemically, it is the amide formed from 4-aminophenol and arachidonic acid.
Oleamide is an organic compound with the formula CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7CONH2(. It is the amide derived from the fatty acid oleic acid. It is a colorless waxy solid and occurs in nature. Sometimes labeled as a fatty acid primary amide (FAPA), it is biosynthesized from N-oleoylglycine.
JZL184 is an irreversible inhibitor for monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL), the primary enzyme responsible for degrading the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). It displays high selectivity for MAGL over other brain serine hydrolases, including the anandamide-degrading enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), thereby making it a useful tool for studying the effects of endogenous 2-AG signaling, in vivo. Administration of JZL184 to mice was reported to cause dramatic elevation of brain 2-AG leading to several cannabinoid-related behavioral effects.
An N-acylethanolamine (NAE) is a type of fatty acid amide formed when one of several types of acyl group is linked to the nitrogen atom of ethanolamine. These amides conceptually can be formed from a fatty acid and ethanolamine with the release of a molecule of water, but the known biological synthesis uses a specific phospholipase D to cleave the phospholipid unit from N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines. Another route relies on the transesterification of acyl groups from phosphatidylcholine by an N-acyltransferase (NAT) activity. The suffixes -amine and -amide in these names each refer to the single nitrogen atom of ethanolamine that links the compound together: it is termed "amine" in ethanolamine because it is considered as a free terminal nitrogen in that subunit, while it is termed "amide" when it is considered in association with the adjacent carbonyl group of the acyl subunit. Names for these compounds may be encountered with either "amide" or "amine" varying by author.
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is an endogenous fatty acid amide, belonging to the class of nuclear factor agonists. PEA has been studied in in vitro and in vivo systems using exogenously added or dosed compound; there is evidence that it binds to a nuclear receptor, through which it exerts a variety of biological effects, some related to chronic inflammation and pain.
Endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitors (eCBRIs), also called cannabinoid reuptake inhibitors (CBRIs), are drugs which limit the reabsorption of endocannabinoid neurotransmitters by the releasing neuron.
Arachidonoyl serotonin is an endogenous lipid signaling molecule. It was first described in 1998 as being an inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). In 2007, it was shown to have analgesic properties and to act as an antagonist of the TRPV1 receptor. In 2011, it was shown to be present in the ileum and jejunum of the gastrointestinal tract and modulate glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion. In addition to this, in 2016, AA-5-HT was also found to affect the signaling mechanisms responsible for anxiety, by inhibiting dopamine release from the Basolateral amygdala following fear behavior. In 2017, AA-5-HT was tested in its effects on the sleep wake cycle, where it was found to affect the sleep homeostasis when used in conjunction with molecules and chemicals that affect wake-related neurotransmitters.
LY-2183240 is a drug which acts both as a potent inhibitor of the reuptake of the endocannabinoid anandamide and as an inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the primary enzyme responsible for degrading anandamide. This leads to markedly elevated anandamide levels in the brain, and LY-2183240 has been shown to produce both analgesic and anxiolytic effects in animal models. While LY-2183240 is a potent inhibitor of FAAH, it has relatively poor selectivity and also inhibits several other enzyme side targets. Consequently, it was never developed for clinical use, though it remains widely used in research, and has also been sold as a designer drug.
PF-04457845 is a potent and exquisitely selective inhibitor of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), with an IC50 of 7.2nM, and both analgesic and antiinflammatory effects in animal studies comparable to naproxen.
N-Arachidonylglycine (NAGly) is a carboxylic metabolite of the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA). Since it was first synthesized in 1996, NAGly has been a primary focus of the relatively contemporary field of lipidomics due to its wide range of signaling targets in the brain, the immune system and throughout various other bodily systems. In combination with 2‐arachidonoyl glycerol (2‐AG), NAGly has enabled the identification of a family of lipids often referred to as endocannabinoids. Recently, NAGly has been found to bind to G-protein coupled receptor 18 (GPR18), the putative abnormal cannabidiol receptor. NaGly is an endogenous inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and thereby increases the ethanolamide endocannabinoids AEA, oleoylethanolamide (OEA) and palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) levels. NaGly is found throughout the body and research on its explicit functions is ongoing.
The endocannabinoid transporters (eCBTs) are transport proteins for the endocannabinoids. Most neurotransmitters are water-soluble and require transmembrane proteins to transport them across the cell membrane. The endocannabinoids on the other hand, are non-charged lipids that readily cross lipid membranes. However, since the endocannabinoids are water immiscible, protein transporters have been described that act as carriers to solubilize and transport the endocannabinoids through the aqueous cytoplasm. These include the heat shock proteins (Hsp70s) and fatty acid-binding proteins for anandamide (FABPs). FABPs such as FABP1, FABP3, FABP5, and FABP7 have been shown to bind endocannabinoids. FABP inhibitors attenuate the breakdown of anandamide by the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) in cell culture. One of these inhibitors (SB-FI-26), isolated from a virtual library of a million compounds, belongs to a class of compounds that act as an anti-nociceptive agent with mild anti-inflammatory activity in mice. These truxillic acids and their derivatives have been known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects in mice and are active components of a Chinese herbal medicine used to treat rheumatism and pain in human. The blockade of anandamide transport may, at least in part, be the mechanism through which these compounds exert their anti-nociceptive effects.
4-Nonylphenylboronic acid is a potent and selective inhibitor of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), with an IC50 of 9.1nM, and 870x selectivity for FAAH over the related enzyme MAGL, which it inhibits with an IC50 of 7900nM. It is also a weaker inhibitor of the enzymes endothelial lipase and lipoprotein lipase, with IC50 values of 100nM and 1400nM respectively.
N-acylethanolamine acid amide hydrolase (NAAA) EC 3.5.1.- is a member of the choloylglycine hydrolase family, a subset of the N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase superfamily. NAAA has a molecular weight of 31 kDa. The activation and inhibition of its catalytic site is of medical interest as a potential treatment for obesity and chronic pain. While it was discovered within the last decade, its structural similarity to the more familiar acid ceramidase (AC) and functional similarity to fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) allow it to be studied extensively.
MK-4409 is an experimental drug which acts as a potent and selective inhibitor of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), with an IC50 of 11 nM, and both analgesic and antiinflammatory effects in animal studies. It was studied for the treatment of neuropathic pain and progressed to early stage human clinical trials by 2009.
JNJ-42165279 is a drug developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica which acts as a potent and selective inhibitor of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), with an IC50 of 70 nM. It is described as a covalently binding but slowly reversible selective inhibitor of FAAH. JNJ-42165279 is being developed for the treatment of anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder. Clinical development has progressed as far as Phase II human trials with two studies in patients with mood disorders registered in ClinicalTrials.gov.
