Methylation of L-trans-2,4-pyrrolidine dicarboxylate converts the glutamate transport inhibitor from a substrate to a non-substrate inhibitor

The 4-methyl analogue of the potent inhibitor of CNS L-glutamate neurotransmitter transporters, L-trans-2,4-PDC, was synthesized via a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction sequence. The bioassays performed not only exhibit increased potency of the methylated derivative over L-trans-2,4-PDC, but also exhibit non-substrate properties at the rat forebrain synaptosomal glutamate transporter while the parent L-trans-2,4-PDC exhibits substrate properties. These results support two hypotheses developed for distinguishing the physiological properties of transport inhibitors based on molecular modeling studies, and are reported here. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.