In vitro metabolism of grandisin, a lignan with anti-chagasic activity.

Tetrahydrofuran lignans represent a well-known group of phenolic compounds capable of acting as antiparasitic agents. In the search for new medicines for the treatment of Chagas disease, one promising compound is grandisin which has shown significant activity on trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. In this work, the in vitro metabolism of grandisin was studied in the pig cecum model and by biomimetic phase I reactions, aiming at an ensuing a preclinical pharmacokinetic investigation. Although grandisin exhibited no metabolization by the pig microbiota, one putative metabolite was formed in a biomimetic model using Jacobsen catalyst. The putative metabolite was tested against T. cruzi revealing loss of activity in comparison to grandisin.

Jacobsen catalyst as a cytochrome P450 biomimetic model for the metabolism of monensin A.

Monensin A is a commercially important natural product isolated from Streptomyces cinnamonensins that is primarily employed to treat coccidiosis. Monensin A selectively complexes and transports sodium cations across lipid membranes and displays a variety of biological properties. In this study, we evaluated the Jacobsen catalyst as a cytochrome P450 biomimetic model to investigate the oxidation of monensin A. Mass spectrometry analysis of the products from these model systems revealed the formation of two products: 3-O-demethyl monensin A and 12-hydroxy monensin A, which are the same ones found in in vivo models. Monensin A and products obtained in biomimetic model were tested in a mitochondrial toxicity model assessment and an antimicrobial bioassay against Staphylococcus aureus, S. aureus methicillin-resistant, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. Our results demonstrated the toxicological effects of monensin A in isolated rat liver mitochondria but not its products, showing that the metabolism of monensin A is a detoxification metabolism. In addition, the antimicrobial bioassay showed that monensin A and its products possessed activity against Gram-positive microorganisms but not for Gram-negative microorganisms. The results revealed the potential of application of this biomimetic chemical model in the synthesis of drug metabolites, providing metabolites for biological tests and other purposes.

CYP-450 isoenzymes catalyze the generation of hazardous aromatic amines after reaction with the azo dye Sudan III.

This work describes the mutagenic response of Sudan III, an adulterant food dye, using Salmonella typhimurium assay and the generation of hazardous aromatic amines after different oxidation methods of this azo dye. For that, we used metabolic activation by S9, catalytic oxidation by ironporphyrin and electrochemistry oxidation in order to simulate endogenous oxidation conditions. The oxidation reactions promoted discoloration from 65% to 95% of Sudan III at 1 × 10(-4)molL(-1) and generation of 7.6 × 10(-7)molL(-1) to 0.31 × 10(-4)molL(-1) of aniline, o-anisidine, 2-methoxi-5-methylaniline, 4-aminobiphenyl, 4,4'-oxydianiline; 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane and 2,6-dimethylaniline. The results were confirmed by LC-MS-MS experiments. We also correlate the mutagenic effects of Sudan III using S. typhimurium with the strain TA1535 in the presence of exogenous metabolic activation (S9) with the metabolization products of this compound. Our findings clearly indicate that aromatic amines are formed due to oxidative reactions that can be promoted by hepatic cells, after the ingestion of Sudan III. Considering that, the use of azo compounds as food dyestuffs should be carefully controlled.

Biomimetic in vitro oxidation of lapachol: a model to predict and analyse the in vivo phase I metabolism of bioactive compounds.

The bioactive naphtoquinone lapachol was studied in vitro by a biomimetic model with Jacobsen catalyst (manganese(III) salen) and iodosylbenzene as oxidizing agent. Eleven oxidation derivatives were thus identified and two competitive oxidation pathways postulated. Similar to Mn(III) porphyrins, Jacobsen catalyst mainly induced the formation of para-naphtoquinone derivatives of lapachol, but also of two ortho-derivatives. The oxidation products were used to develop a GC-MS (SIM mode) method for the identification of potential phase I metabolites in vivo. Plasma analysis of Wistar rats orally administered with lapachol revealed two metabolites, α-lapachone and dehydro-α-lapachone. Hence, the biomimetic model with a manganese salen complex has evidenced its use as a valuable tool to predict and elucidate the in vivo phase I metabolism of lapachol and possibly also of other bioactive natural compounds.

Metabolism evaluation of the anticancer candidate AC04 by biomimetic oxidative model and rat liver microsomes.

Jacobsen reagents, in the presence of monooxygen donors, appear as an alternative to produce metabolites from biological active compounds. This reaction may mimic the oxidation and oxygenation reactions of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes upon various drugs and biologically active compounds. Acridines represent a well-known group of polyaromatic compounds capable of acting as DNA intercalating agents. Viewing to search for new anticancer agents, one promising new acridine, the 5-acridin-9-ylmethylene-3-(4-methyl-benzyl)-thiazolidine-2,4-dione (AC04) (2), has been studied by our group and the in vitro metabolism was investigated in this work, aiming to advance in the pre-clinical pharmacokinetic investigation. A systematic investigation of the gas-phase reaction, supported by computational chemistry, of the AC04 (2) was studied to help the structure elucidation of possible in vivo metabolites. To confirm the methodology, the oxidized product was obtained in large scale for NMR analysis and the data confirmed the structure. In addition, AC04 (2) was submitted to an in vitro metabolism assay employing rat liver microsomes and also, a pilot study was conducted in rats after AC04 intravenous (i.v.) dosing of 1.5 mg/kg. A single oxidized product was obtained from microsomal metabolism and detected in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis corresponding to the same product formed by Jacobsen-catalyzed reaction. These results indicate that Jacobsen oxidation reactions, combined with in vitro metabolism assays employing isolated microsomes, might replace some in vivo metabolism studies, thus reducing the use of animals in new chemical entities pre-clinical investigation.