Atropine has a broad range of medical applications. For example, it is often used to decrease heart rate, reduce saliva production during anesthetic induced surgery and to treat patients suffering from organophosphorus (OP) agent poisoning. Atropine is a competitive antagonist of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs). It binds and inhibits all subtypes including M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5. The most common form of atropine used in medicine is atropine sulfate monohydrate. However, analogs of atropine that are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) have been synthesized. These quaternary derivatives of atropine include ethylatropine, methylatropine, propylatropine and benzylatropine. Methylatropine is the most popular and potent of these quaternary derivatives and is suggested to be more potent than atropine. Methylatropine was introduced in 1902 by Bayer initially as a pupil dilating medication and then later as a therapeutic for gastrointestinal disorders such as pyloric stenosis. Until recently methylatropine nitrate and methylatropine bromide were available for commercial purchase. However, due to a limited production of methyl bromine (a key starting material in the synthesis) in 2005, methylatropine bromide is no longer available for commercial purchase. As a result, there has been an increase in demand for methylatropine nitrate which is still available for purchase in the United States of America. However, only a few vendors carry methylatropine nitrate and they possess limited quantities. Thus, the cost of methylatropine nitrate has ballooned and it is now much more expensive than atropine sulfate. We designed an environmentally safe and inexpensive derivative ethylatropine bromide, then characterized its potency and efficacy as a selective antagonist of peripheral muscarinic receptors <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. We present these data to suggest ethylatropine bromide as an alternative tool compound to other muscarinic receptor antagonists.

Inhibition of pilocarpine-induced fluid secretion by ethylatropine bromide

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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