Aporphine

Aporphine is one of a class of quinoline alkaloids. Many different relatives of this compound have been purified from plants. One commonly used aporphine derivative is apomorphine, although it does not occur naturally.

Aporphine is a 5-HT1a partial agonist with a ki of 80nM and a 5-HT7 antagonist with a ki of 88nM. Aporphine is a Dopamine D1 antagonist with a ki of 717nM and a dopamine D2 antagonist with a ki of 527nM. Aporphine and its related alkaloids bulbocapnine, boldine, glaucine and corytuberine are antipsychotic, exert naloxone-reversible antinociceptive activity and with the exception of corytuberine are anticonvulsant. Some derivatives of aporphine such as S(+)-N-propylnorapomorphine have potential as low side effect profile antipsychotics. S(+)-N-propylnorapomorphine is highly selective for meso-limbic dopaminergic tracts and function as efficacious partial agonists, with no elevation in prolactin.