Beta-CIT
RTI-55
Chemical compound
RTI(-4229)-55, also called RTI-55 or iometopane, is a phenyltropane-based psychostimulant used in scientific research and in some medical applications. This drug was first cited in 1991.[1] RTI-55 is a non-selective dopamine reuptake inhibitor derived from methylecgonidine. However, more selective analogs are derived by conversion to "pyrrolidinoamido" RTI-229, for instance. Due to the large bulbous nature of the weakly electron withdrawing iodo halogen atom, RTI-55 is the most strongly serotonergic of the simple para-substituted troparil based analogs.[2] In rodents RTI-55 actually caused death at a dosage of 100 mg/kg, whereas RTI-51 and RTI-31 did not.[2] Another notable observation is the strong propensity of RTI-55 to cause locomotor activity enhancements,[2] although in an earlier study, RTI-51 was actually even stronger than RTI-55 in shifting baseline LMA.[3] This observation serves to highlight the disparities that can arise between studies.
RTI-55 is one of the most potent phenyltropane stimulants commercially available, which limits its use in humans, as it might have significant abuse potential if used outside a strictly controlled medical setting.[4] However, it is definitely worthy of mentioning that increasing the size of the halogen atom attached to troparil serves to reduce the number of lever responses in a session when these analogs were compared in a study.[5] Although RTI-55 wasn't specifically examined in this study the number of lever responses in a given session was of the order cocaine > WIN35428 > RTI-31 > RTI-51.
In contrast to RTI-31 which is predominantly dopaminergic, increasing the size of the covalently bonded halogen from a chlorine to an iodine markedly increases the affinity for the SERT, while retaining mostly all of its DAT blocking activity.
The radiopharmaceutical forms of RTI-55, in which the iodine atom is radioiodine so that the drug can be used in single-photon emission computed tomography, are called iometopane I 123 (USAN) or iometopane 123I (INN) and iometopane I 125 (USAN) or iometopane 125I (INN). The 123I and 125I isotopes are favored because they are very-high-energy γ-ray emitters.
Compared to the "WIN" compounds, extremely low Ki values are attainable.