Dipeptides containing L-arginine analogs: new isozyme-selective inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase.

Several L-arginine analogs are known as potent inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). We recently synthesized dipeptides containing such amino acids, and found that they are potent and isozyme-selective NOS inhibitors. For example, S-methyl-L-isothiocitrullinyl-L-phenylalanine showed 66-fold selectivity for iNOS over nNOS, while S-methyl-L-isothiocitrullinyl-L-leucine and N(G)-nitro-L-argininyl-L-phenylalanine showed 20- and 14-fold selectivity, respectively. Interestingly, S-methyl-L-isothiocitrullinyl-D-phenylalanine showed no selectivity, and S-methyl-L-isothiocitrullinyl-L-phenylalanine showed competitive inhibition. These results suggest that each NOS isozyme has a cavity of different size near the C-terminal of the L-arginine binding site, and that the selectivity of inhibitors is due to the differences in the size of the cavity.