Cipralisant (GT-2331, tentative trade name Perceptin) is an extremely potent histamine H3 receptor ligand originally developed by Gliatech. Cipralisant was initially classified as a selective H3
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain. but newer research (2005) suggests also
agonist
An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...
properties, i.e.,
functional selectivity
Functional selectivity (or agonist trafficking, biased agonism, biased signaling, ligand bias, and differential engagement) is the ligand-dependent selectivity for certain signal transduction pathways relative to a reference ligand (often the end ...
.
The relatively recent cloning of human H3 receptor, as well as the discovery of its constitutive activity provided the ability to better assess the activity of H3 receptor ligands. Consequently, cipralisant was reassessed as an H3 receptor agonist in human and rat recombinant systems, showing
functional selectivity
Functional selectivity (or agonist trafficking, biased agonism, biased signaling, ligand bias, and differential engagement) is the ligand-dependent selectivity for certain signal transduction pathways relative to a reference ligand (often the end ...
and stimulating one type of G-protein coupled pathway while failing to activate other intracellular pathways.
Gliatech filed for bankruptcy in 2002, and its intellectual property was inherited by Merck. The development of cipralisant seems to have been suspended since 2003 but research is ongoing, and recently it has been shown that it is the (1''S'',2''S'')-enantiomer which is the biologically active one.