Design, synthesis and evaluation of newer 5,6-dihydropyrimidine-2(1H)-thiones as GABA-AT inhibitors for anticonvulsant potential

Abstract Several new 5,6-dihydropyrimidine-2(1 H )-thione derivatives have been prepared and investigated for their potencies for anticonvulsant activity against maximal electroshock (MES) and subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole (scPTZ) test in mice. The acute neurotoxicity was measured by rotarod test. Compounds 3c and 3l were found active in both of the animal models. Further, in vitro GABA-AT enzyme activity assay was carried out to investigate the possible mechanism of action through GABA-AT inhibition. The most potent compounds 3c and 3l showed inhibitory potency (IC 50 ) of 18.42 μM and 19.23 μM, respectively. The molecular modeling was performed for all the synthesized compounds. The docking results were found in concordant with the observed animal studies.