Evodiamine activates AMPK and promotes adiponectin multimerization in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Adiponectin, an adipokine with insulin-sensitizing effect, is secreted from adipocytes into circulation as high, medium, and low molecular weight (HMW, MMW, and LMW) forms. The HMW adiponectin is more metabolically active and the ratio of HMW adiponectin to total adiponectin directly correlates with insulin sensitivity. Evodiamine is an indole alkaloid found in the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Evodia rutaecarpa. In this study, evodiamine was found to activate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in both 3T3-L1 adipocytes and 293T cells. Activation of AMPK by evodiamine promoted the assembly of HMW adiponectin and increased the HMW/total ratio of adiponectin in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The Ca(2+)-dependent PI3K/Akt/CaMKII-signaling pathway was demonstrated to be involved in evodiamine-induced AMPK activation. This study revealed a novel role of this Ca(2+)-mediated signaling pathway in promoting the multimerization of adiponectin.

Synthesis and anti-BVDV activity of novel δ-sultones in vitro: implications for HCV therapies.

In this study we report the synthesis and activity against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) of a novel series of bicycle δ-sultones containing γ-lactones. BVDV is responsible for major losses in cattle. Some of the synthesized δ-sultones showed pronounced anti-BVDV activity with EC50 values of 0.12-1.0µM and no significant cytotoxicity. Among them, the ortho bromosubstituted derivative 4f (EC50=0.12µM) showed better antiviral activity than other derivatives and was 10 fold more that of than positive control ribavirin (EC50=1.3µM). BVDV is also considered to be a valuable surrogate for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in antiviral drug studies. The above results provided a novel candidate for the development of anti-HCV agents.