Ionotropic receptors (NMDA, AMPA and P2X) 

 

- Oken A, Turcu AL, Tzortzini E, Kyriakos G, Nagel J, Barniol-Xicota M, Kim GR, Lee SD, Nicke A., Kim YC, Müller CH, Kolocouris A, Vázquez S, Mansoor SE. UB-MBX-46 is a potent and selective antagonist of the human P2X7 receptor developed by structure-based drug design. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025, doi: 0.1101/2025.02.12.637899

- Carrillo E, Montaño Romero A, Gonzalez CU, Turcu AL, Chen SR, Chen H, Pan HL, Vázquez S, Twomey EC, Jayaraman V. Memantine Inhibits Calcium-Permeable AMPA Receptors. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024, doi: 10.1101/2024.07.02.601784. 

- Wilcox MR, Nigam A, Glasgow NG, Narangoda C, Phillips MB, Patel DS, Mesbahi-Vasey S, Turcu AL, Vázquez S, Kurnikova MG, Johnson JW. Inhibition of NMDA receptors through a membrane-to-channel path. Nat Commun. 2022, 13, 4114. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31817-z. 

- Turcu AL, Companys-Alemany J, Phillips MB, Patel DS, Griñán-Ferré C, Loza MI, Brea JM, Pérez B, Soto D, Sureda FX, Kurnikova MG, Johnson JW, Pallàs M, Vázquez S. Design, synthesis, and in vitro and in vivo characterization of new memantine analogs for Alzheimer's disease. Eur J Med Chem. 2022, 236, 114354. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114354.

- Companys-Alemany J, Turcu AL, Vázquez S, Pallàs M, Griñán-Ferré C. Glial cell reactivity and oxidative stress prevention in Alzheimer's disease mice model by an optimized NMDA receptor antagonist. Sci Rep. 2022, 12, 17908. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-22963-x.

- Companys-Alemany J, Roig-Soriano J, Turcu AL, Chillón M, Vázquez S, Pallàs M, Griñán-Ferré C. Optimized N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist exhibits hippocampal proneurogenic effects in aged senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 mice. Neuroreport. 2022, 33, 623-628. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001825. 

- Companys-Alemany J, Turcu AL, Schneider M, Müller CE, Vázquez S, Griñán-Ferré C, Pallàs M. NMDA receptor antagonists reduce amyloid-β deposition by modulating calpain-1 signaling and autophagy, rescuing cognitive impairment in 5XFAD mice. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2022, 79, 408. doi: 10.1007/s00018-022-04438-4. 

- Companys-Alemany J, Turcu AL, Bellver-Sanchis A, Loza MI, Brea JM, Canudas AM, Leiva R, Vázquez S, Pallàs M, Griñán-Ferré C. A Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonist Protects against Cognitive Decline Presented by Senescent Mice. Pharmaceutics. 2020, 22, 284. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics12030284.

- Pérez-Areales FJ, Turcu AL, Barniol-Xicota M, Pont C, Pivetta D, Espargaró A, Bartolini M, De Simone A, Andrisano V, Pérez B, Sabate R, Sureda FX, Vázquez S, Muñoz-Torrero D. A novel class of multitarget anti-Alzheimer benzohomoadamantane‒chlorotacrine hybrids modulating cholinesterases and glutamate NMDA receptors. Eur J Med Chem. 2019, 180, 613-626. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.07.051. 

- Leiva R, Phillips MB, Turcu AL, Gratacòs-Batlle E, León-García L, Sureda FX, Soto D, Johnson JW, Vázquez S. Pharmacological and Electrophysiological Characterization of Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonists. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018, 9, 2722-2730. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00154.

 

Antiviral agents

- Stampolaki Μ, Hoffmann A, Tekwani K, Georgiou K, Tzitzoglaki C, Ma C, Becker S, Schmerer P, Döring K, Stylianakis I, Turcu AL, Wang J, Vázquez S, Andreas LB, Schmidtke M, Kolocouris A. A Study of the Activity of Adamantyl Amines against Mutant Influenza A M2 Channels Identified a Polycyclic Cage Amine Triple Blocker, Explored by Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Solid-State NMR. ChemMedChem. 2023, 18, e202300182. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202300182. 

- Tzitzoglaki C, Hoffmann A, Turcu A.L., Schmerer P, Ma C, Laros G, Liolios C, José B, Wang J, Vázquez S, Schmidtke M, Kolocouris A,. A novel class of multitarget anti-Alzheimer benzohomoadamantane‒chlorotacrine hybrids modulating cholinesterases and glutamate NMDA receptors. Eur J Med Chem Reports. 2022, 6, 100083. doi: 0.1016/j.ejmcr.2022.100083

 

Others

- Xifra R, Lukach AE, Turcu AL.* Facile Access to Solifenacin Impurity K: One-Step Synthesis and an HPLC-MS Method for Its Determination. Molecules. 2024, 29, 3011. doi: 10.3390/molecules29133011.

- Peyman M, Barroso E, Turcu AL, Estrany F Jr, Smith D, Jurado-Aguilar J, Rada P, Morisseau C, Hammock BD, Valverde ÁM, Palomer X, Galdeano C, Vázquez S, Vázquez-Carrera M. Soluble epoxide hydrolase-targeting PROTAC activates AMPK and inhibits endoplasmic reticulum stress. Biomed Pharmacother. 2023, 168, 115667. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.115667.

- Stampolaki M, Malwal SR, Alvarez-Cabrera N, Gao Z, Moniruzzaman M, Babii SO, Naziris N, Rey-Cibati A, Valladares-Delgado M, Turcu AL, Baek KH, Phan TN, Lee H, Alcaraz M, Watson S, van der Watt M, Coertzen D, Efstathiou N, Chountoulesi M, Shoen CM, Papanastasiou IP, Brea J, Cynamon MH, Birkholtz LM, Kremer L, No JH, Vázquez S, Benaim G, Demetzos C, Zgurskaya HI, Dick T, Oldfield E, Kolocouris AD. Synthesis and Testing of Analogs of the Tuberculosis Drug Candidate SQ109 against Bacteria and Protozoa: Identification of Lead Compounds against Mycobacterium abscessus and Malaria Parasites. ACS Infect Dis. 2023,  10, 342-364. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00537.

- Turcu AL, Versini A, Khene N, Gaillet C, Cañeque T, Müller S, Rodriguez R. DMT1 Inhibitors Kill Cancer Stem Cells by Blocking Lysosomal Iron Translocation. Chemistry. 2020, 26(33), 7369-7373. doi: 10.1002/chem.202000159.

- Leiva R, Phillips MB, Turcu AL, Gratacòs-Batlle E, León-García L, Sureda FX, Soto D, Johnson JW, Vázquez S. Pharmacological and Electrophysiological Characterization of Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonists. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018, 9, 2722-2730. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00154.