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2-Chloroethylamines (DSP4 and Xylamine)

Toxic Actions on Noradrenergic Neurons

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Book cover Highly Selective Neurotoxins

Part of the book series: Contemporary Neuroscience ((CNEURO))

Abstract

In the early 1970s, the group of Svante Ross in Sweden investigated a series of compounds chemically related to the adrenergic neuron blocker bretylium in an attempt to identify those that could cross the blood—brain barrier and, once in the brain, cyclize to form quaternary ammonium derivatives. Although some of these tertiary haloalkylamines had the predicted neuron-blocking activity, one of these compounds, N-(2-chloroethly)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine (DSP4), whose chemical structure is shown in Fig. 1, lacked this property, but produced a long-lasting inhibition of norepinephrine (NE) uptake by brain slices when injected to rodents (1–3). Xylamine, a closely related molecule, which was originally described by Kreuger and Cook (4) and is also shown in Fig. 1, was extensively investigated by Arthur Cho and his group in Los Angeles and found to have essentially similar properties to those of DSP4 (5–8).

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Authors
  1. Guillermo Jaim-Etcheverry
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

    Richard M. Kostrzewa

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Jaim-Etcheverry, G. (1998). 2-Chloroethylamines (DSP4 and Xylamine). In: Kostrzewa, R.M. (eds) Highly Selective Neurotoxins. Contemporary Neuroscience. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-477-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-477-1_5

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-047-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-477-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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