Antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects of YL-IPA08, a potent ligand for the translocator protein (18 kDa)

•YL-IPA08, exerted a high affinity for TSPO.•YL-IPA08 exerts antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects.•The effects of YL-IPA08 are mediated by TSPO.•YL-IPA08 does not cause the side effects that are associated with benzodiazepines.

It has been demonstrated that the translocator protein (18 kDa) (TSPO) plays an important role in stress-response and stress-related disorders, such as anxiety and depression, by affecting the production of neurosteroids, supporting the potential use of selective TSPO ligands as antidepressant or anxiolytic drugs. N-ethyl-N-(2-pyridinylmethyl)- 2-(3,4-ichlorophenyl)- 7-methylimidazo [1,2-a] pyridine-3-acetamide hydrochloride (YL-IPA08), a novel TSPO ligand that has been synthesized at our institute, exerted a high affinity for TSPO in a crude mitochondrial fraction prepared from rat cerebellum but exhibited only a negligible affinity for the central benzodiazepine receptor. As expected, YL-IPA08 incubation with the cultured rat astrocyte cells increased the pregnenolone and progesterone concentration from the cultured medium. Moreover, YL-IPA08 produced significant antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects in a series of mouse and rat behavior models. In addition, the antidepressant-like behavior of YL-IPA08 was totally blocked by the TSPO antagonist PK11195 in a tail suspension test, and the anxiolytic effect was blocked by PK11195 but not by a CBR antagonist in the elevated plus-maze test. Furthermore, compared with the CBR agonist diazepam, YL-IPA08 had no myorelaxant effects and did not affect the motor coordination, memory or hexobarbitone-induced sleep in mice. Overall, these results indicate that YL-IPA08 is a more potent and selective TSPO ligand, which exerts antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects on behaviors that are mediated by TSPO but does not cause the side effects that are typically associated with conventional benzodiazepines.