The cyclic nucleotide second messenger guanosine 3’5’-
cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) is an important mediator of signal transduction and hence a wide range of cellular processes. It can be generated by soluble guanylyl cyclase in response to binding of nitric oxide and degraded
via members of the phosphodiesterase (PDE) protein family. Zaprinast, the compound from which sildenafil (Viagra™) was developed, is a cGMP-
specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor. It moderately inhibits PDE5 and PDE6 with IC
50 values of 0.5-
0.76 and 0.15 μM, respectively, and weakly inhibits PDE9, PDE10, and PDE11 with IC
50 values of 35, 22, and 11-
33 μM, respectively.
1,2 Zaprinast therefore enhances the vasodilatory effects of nitric oxide in a range of vascular tissues by prolonging the cGMP-
mediated activation of cGMP-
dependent protein kinase.
2 Zaprinast also activates both the rat and human G protein-
coupled receptor, GPR35 with EC
50 values of 16 nM and 0.84 μM, respectively.
3