Searching for a therapy of creatine transporter deficiency: some effects of creatine ethyl ester in brain slices in vitro

Creatine, an ergogenic compound essential for brain function, is very hydrophilic and needs a transporter to cross lipid-rich cells' plasma membranes. Hereditary creatine transporter deficiency is a severe incurable neurological disease where creatine is missing from the brain. Creatine esters are more lipophylic than creatine and may not need the transporter to cross plasma membranes. Thus, they may represent a useful therapy for hereditary creatine transporter deficiency. Creatine ethyl ester (CEE) is commercially available and widely used as a nutritional supplement. It was reported that it enters the cells of patients lacking the transporter but was not useful when administered in vivo, by oral route, to affected patients. In this paper we investigated the effects of CEE in in vitro brain slices before and after biochemical block of the creatine transporter. We found that CEE is rapidly degraded in the aqueous incubation medium to creatinine, however it remains in solution long enough to cause an increase in tissue content of creatine and, more prominently, phosphocreatine. Both CEE and creatine delayed the anoxia-induced failure of synaptic transmission, and there was no difference between the two compounds. Contrary to what we expected, CEE did not increase tissue creatine content after the creatine transporter was blocked. We confirm that CEE is probably not an effective treatment for hereditary creatine transporter deficiency. Two factors seem to affect the possibility for creatine esters to be exploited in the therapy of creatine transporter deficiency. First, the size of their alcohol moiety should be increased since this would increase the lipophilicity of the compound and improve its ability to diffuse through biological membranes. Second, creatine esters should be further modified to slow their degradation to creatinine and increase their half-life in aqueous solutions. Moreover, we should not forget the possibility that they are degraded in vivo by plasma esterases.

▶Creatine is a very lipophobic compound and needs a transporter to cross lipid-rich cells’ plasma membranes. ▶Such transporter is not functional in hereditary creatine transporter deficiency, a severe incurable neurological disease. ▶Creatine ethyl ester, more lipophilic than creatine, may cross cell membranes in a transporter-independent way, thus representing a therapy for this condition. ▶Unfortunately, we found that it degrades very rapidly in water solution and that it does not cross cell membranes after block of the creatine transporter. ▶Nevertheless, it caused an increase in cells’ content of creatine and phosphocreatine and had neuroprotective effects. ▶We suggest possible ways how creatine esters may be improved to represent useful therapeutic agents.