4-isopropylcyclohexanol has potential analgesic effects through the inhibition of anoctamin 1, TRPV1 and TRPA1 channel activities

Interactions between calcium-activated chloride channel anoctamin 1 (ANO1) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) enhance pain sensations in mice, suggesting that ANO1 inhibition could have analgesic effects. Here we show that menthol and the menthol analogue isopropylcyclohexane (iPr-CyH) inhibited ANO1 channels in mice. The iPr-CyH derivative 4-isopropylcyclohexanol (4-iPr-CyH-OH) inhibited mouse ANO1 currents more potently than iPr-CyH. Moreover, 4-iPr-CyH-OH inhibited the activities of TRPV1, TRP ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), TRP melastatin 8 (TRPM8) and TRPV4. Single-channel analysis revealed that 4-iPr-CyH-OH reduced TRPV1 and TRPA1 current open-times without affecting unitary amplitude or closed-time, suggesting that it affected gating rather than blocking the channel pore. The ability of 4-iPr-CyH-OH to inhibit action potential generation and reduce pain-related behaviors induced by capsaicin in mice suggests that 4-iPr-CyH-OH could have analgesic applications. Thus, 4-iPr-CyH-OH is a promising base chemical to develop novel analgesics that target ANO1 and TRP channels.