RESUMO
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative process that compromises cognitive functions. The physiopathology of AD is multifactorial and is mainly supported by the cholinergic and amyloid hypotheses, which allows the identification the fundamental role of some markers, such as the enzymes acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and ß-secretase (BACE-1), and the ß-amyloid peptide (Aß). In this work, we prepared a series of chalcones and 2'-aminochalcones, which were tested against AChE and BACE-1 enzymes and on the aggregation of Aß. All compounds inhibited AChE activity with different potencies. We have found that the majority of chalcones having the amino group are able to inhibit BACE-1, which was not observed for chalcones without this group. The most active compound is the one derived from 2,3-dichlorobenzaldeyde, having an IC50 value of 2.71 µM. A molecular docking study supported this result, showing a good interaction of the amino group with aspartic acid residues of the catalytic diade of BACE-1. Thioflavin-T fluorescence emission is reduced in 30 - 40%, when Aß42 is incubated in the presence of some chalcones under aggregation conditions. In vitro cytotoxicity and in silico prediction of pharmacokinetic properties were also conducted in this study.
Assuntos
Chalconas/farmacologia , Inibidores da Colinesterase/farmacologia , Inibidores de Proteases/farmacologia , Acetilcolinesterase/metabolismo , Doença de Alzheimer/tratamento farmacológico , Secretases da Proteína Precursora do Amiloide/metabolismo , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Animais , Ácido Aspártico Endopeptidases/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Chalconas/síntese química , Chalconas/metabolismo , Chalconas/farmacocinética , Chlorocebus aethiops , Inibidores da Colinesterase/síntese química , Inibidores da Colinesterase/metabolismo , Inibidores da Colinesterase/farmacocinética , Electrophorus , Humanos , Camundongos , Simulação de Acoplamento Molecular , Fragmentos de Peptídeos/metabolismo , Inibidores de Proteases/síntese química , Inibidores de Proteases/farmacocinética , Ligação Proteica , Multimerização Proteica/efeitos dos fármacos , Células VeroRESUMO
Chagas disease is an endemic parasitic infection that occurs in 21 Latin American countries. New therapies for this disease are urgently needed, as the only two drugs available (nifurtimox and benznidazol) have high toxicity and variable efficacy in the disease's chronic phase. Recently, a new chemical entity (NCE) named Pyranaphthoquinone (IVS320) was synthesized from lawsone. We report herein, a detailed study of the physicochemical properties and in vitro trypanocidal activity of IVS320. A series of assays were performed for characterization, where thermal, diffractometric, and morphological analysis were performed. In addition, the solubility, permeability, and hygroscopicity of IVS320 were determined. The results show that its poor solubility and low permeability may be due to its high degree of crystallinity (99.19%), which might require the use of proper techniques to increase the IVS320's aqueous solubility and permeability. The trypanocidal activity study demonstrated that IVS320 is more potent than the reference drug benznidazole, with IC50/24 h of 1.49 ± 0.1 µM, which indicates that IVS320 has potential as a new drug candidate for the treatment of Chagas disease.