Design and synthesis of effective antagonists of substance P.

The agonist/antagonist activities of four background analogs of substance P (SP) facilitated design and synthesis of 12 new analogs to achieve effective antagonists. (D-Pro2, D-Phe7, D-Trp9)-SP, (D-Pro2, D-Trp7,9)-SP and (D-Arg1, D-Phe7, D-Trp9)-SP showed no agonist activity; 9 analogs showed weak agonist activity of SP. (D-Pro2, D-Trp7,9)-SP was the most potent antagonist which at a concentration of 10(-5) required a 3-fold increase in SP to allow a 50% response by SP. (D-Pro2, Lys6, D-Phe7)-SP and (D-Pro2, D-pClPhe7, D-Trp9)-SP were also potent, and the antagonism was competitive. For specific pairs of peptides, Lys6 is a promising substituent. D-Trp7,9 was as effective as Lys6, D-Phe7. D-pClPhe7 was three times as effective as D-Phe7. D-Dln6 was 1.33-fold better than D-Gln5. D-Pro2 and D-Pro4 were equally effective. D-Pro2 was 1.5 times as effective as D-Lys3. D-Pro2 may not be important. D-pClPhe9 and D-Trp9 were equally effective.