Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor TSPO needs to be reconsidered before using as a drug target for a pigmentary disorder.

The peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (TSPO/PBR) is highly conserved among different species but with perplexing biochemical functions. Multiple ligands of TSPO show commendable regulatory activities in lots of biological functions, such as neuro-protection, cholesterol transport, and so on. These researches support that TSPO may be a potential target for disease treatment and drug development. Previous studies have shown that its ligands benzodiazepines show a satisfactory effect on melanogenic promotion. However, the potential application of TSPO in drug development for pigmentary disorder needs further investigation. In this study, we confirmed the melanogenesis induction of TSPO ligand, Ro5-4864 in mouse melanoma cell lines, human skin tissue, and zebrafish embryos by inducing melanin synthesis and melanosome transport. Molecular genetics and pharmacological studies showed that TSPO deficiency did not affect melanin production in B16F10 cells and zebrafish embryos, nor did it affect the melanin promotion effect of Ro5-4864. Whether or not TSPO exists, the expression of lots of melanogenesis-related proteins, such as TYR, TRP-1, DCT, Mlph, and Rab27 was upregulated with the Ro5-4864 administration. These results indicated that Ro5-4864 induces melanogenesis in a TSPO-independent manner, which is inconsistent with previous research. This research is a reminder that we need to be very careful during target validation in drug development.

Downregulation of gephyrin in temporal lobe epilepsy neurons in humans and a rat model.

Gephyrin, which is a postsynaptic scaffolding protein participated in clustering GABA(A) receptors at inhibitory synapses, has been reported to be involved in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) recently. Here, we investigate gephyrin protein expression in the temporal lobe epileptic foci in epileptic patients and experimental animals in order to explore the probable relationship between gephyrin expression and TLE. Using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and western blot analysis, gephyrin expression was examined in 30 human temporal neocortex samples from patients who underwent surgery to treat drug-refractory TLE and 10 histological normal temporal neocortex from the controls. Meanwhile, we investigated the gephyrin expression in the hippocampus and adjacent neocortex from experimental rats on 24 h, 48 h, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months postseizure and from control rats. Gephyrin protein was mainly expressed in the membrane and cytoplasm of neurons in temporal lobe epileptic foci in humans and experimental rats. Gephyrin expression was significantly lower in the temporal neocortex of TLE patients compared to the controls. In experimental rats, the expression of gephyrin in temporal lobe was downregulated in epileptic groups compared to the control group. Gephyrin expression gradually decreased during the acute period and the latent period, but then began to increase below the levels seen in controls during the chronic phase. Our findings suggest that gephyrin may be involved in the development of TLE.

Anti-inflammatory alkaloids from the stems of Picrasma quassioides BENNET.

During further chemical and biological investigations of Picrasma quassioides BENNET, four new bis-ß-carboline alkaloids, quassidines E-H (1-4), and three new ß-carboline alkaloids, canthin-16-one-14-butyric acid (5), 3-(1,1-dimethoxylmethyl)-ß-carboline (6), and 6,12-dimethoxy-3-formyl-ß-carboline (7), were isolated from its anti-inflammatory CHCl(3)-soluble fraction. Structures of new compounds were elucidated and characterized by MS and NMR analysis. A plausible biogenetic pathway for quassidine E (1), the first bis-ß-carboline alkaloid in which a canthin-6-one moiety and a ß-carboline moiety were connected together by a single carbon-carbon bond from the nature, was proposed. Quassidines E-G (1-3) showed potent inhibitory activity on the production of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), or interleukin 6 (IL-6) in mouse monocyte-macrophage RAW264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Analysis of anti-inflammatory activity of all ß-carboline and bis-ß-carboline alkaloids from P. quassioides showed that the carbonyl groups or double carbon-carbon bonds at C-14 for ß-carbolines and C-14' for bis-ß-carbolines were bioactive groups for their in vitro anti-inflammatory activity. Structure-activity relationship of these compounds on inhibitory activity of the three inflammatory cytokines was discussed.