New substrates and inhibitors of gamma-aminobutyric acid aminotransferase containing bioisosteres of the carboxylic acid group: design, synthesis, and biological activity.

A series of potential substrates of gamma-aminobutyric acid aminotransferase (GABA-AT) with lipophilic bioisosteres of the carboxylic acid group (2-7) were synthesized and tested. Most of the synthesized compounds showed substrate activities with GABA-AT; 1H-tetrazole-5-propanamine (6) was the best of those tested. The potential time-dependent inhibitor of GABA-AT, 1H-tetrazole-5-(alpha-vinyl-propanamine) (8), was designed based on the structures of 6 and the antiepilepsy drug vigabatrin (4-aminohex-5-enoic acid, 1). The synthesized compound 8 showed time-dependent inhibition of GABA-AT, but its potency is lower than that of vigabatrin. Methylation of the tetrazole group in 8 resulted in loss of time-dependent activity, suggesting that the tetrazole ring, the carboxylate bioisostere, exists in its deprotonated form in the enzyme active site.