ITH14001, a CGP37157-Nimodipine Hybrid Designed to Regulate Calcium Homeostasis and Oxidative Stress, Exerts Neuroprotection in Cerebral Ischemia.

During brain ischemia, oxygen and glucose deprivation induces calcium overload, extensive oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and, finally, massive neuronal loss. In the search of a neuroprotective compound to mitigate this neuronal loss, we have designed and synthesized a new multitarget hybrid (ITH14001) directed at the reduction of calcium overload by acting on two regulators of calcium homeostasis; the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (mNCX) and L-type voltage dependent calcium channels (VDCCs). This compound is a hybrid of CGP37157 (mNCX inhibitor) and nimodipine (L-type VDCCs blocker), and its pharmacological evaluation revealed a moderate ability to selectively inhibit both targets. These activities conferred concentration-dependent neuroprotection in two models of Ca2+ overload, such as toxicity induced by high K+ in the SH-SY5Y cell line (60% protection at 30 µM) and veratridine in hippocampal slices (26% protection at 10 µM). It also showed neuroprotective effect against oxidative stress, an activity related to its nitrogen radical scavenger effect and moderate induction of the Nrf2-ARE pathway. Its Nrf2 induction capability was confirmed by the increase of the expression of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory enzyme heme-oxygenase I (3-fold increase). In addition, the multitarget profile of ITH14001 led to anti-inflammatory properties, shown by the reduction of nitrites production induced by lipopolysaccharide in glial cultures. Finally, it showed protective effect in two acute models of cerebral ischemia in hippocampal slices, excitotoxicity induced by glutamate (31% protection at 10 µM) and oxygen and glucose deprivation (76% protection at 10 µM), reducing oxidative stress and iNOS deleterious induction. In conclusion, our hybrid derivative showed improved neuroprotective properties when compared to its parent compounds CGP37157 and nimodipine.

Synthesis of a library of 5,6-unsubstituted 1,4-dihydropyridines based on a one-pot 4CR/elimination process and their application to the generation of structurally diverse fused nitrogen heterocycles.

Indium trichloride is an efficient catalyst for the sequential four-component reaction between aliphatic amines, ß-ketoesters, α,ß-unsaturated aldehydes, and ethanol to afford 6-ethoxy-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridines, which were converted in situ into 5,6-unsubstituted 1,4-dihydropyridines via ethanol elimination in the presence of neutral Al(2)O(3), in a very efficient, one-pot protocol from acyclic, readily available starting materials that involves the generation of two C-N σ and one C-C π bonds. The structural variety of the dihydropyridine library thus generated was extended by base-promoted γ-alkylation of their C-2 position. The application of these 1,4-dihydropyridines to the facile generation of molecular diversity and complexity was demonstrated by employing them as dienophiles for Yb(OTf)(3)-catalyzed imino Diels-Alder (Povarov) reactions leading diastereoselectively to hexahydrobenzo[h][1,6]-naphthyridine derivatives containing three adjacent stereocenters. The synthesis of fused dihydropyridines derived from the pyrido[2,1-a]azepine (homoquinolizine) frameworks was also achieved using a four-component tetrahydropyridine synthesis/ring-closing metathesis/elimination strategy.

Discovery of a class of diketopiperazines as antiprion compounds.

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative and infectious disorders for which effective pharmacological tools are not yet available. This unmet challenge and the recently proposed interplay between prion diseases and Alzheimer's have led to a more urgent demand for new antiprion agents. Herein, we report the identification of a novel bifunctional diketopiperazine (DKP) derivative 1 d, which exhibits activity in the low micromolar range against prion replication in ScGT1 cells, while showing low cytotoxicity. Supported by properly addressed molecular modeling studies, we hypothesized that a planar conformation is the major determinant for activity in this class of compounds. Moreover, studies aimed at assessing the mechanism-of-action at the molecular level showed that 1 d might interact directly with recombinant prion protein (recPrP) to prevent its conversion to the pathogenic misfolded prion protein (PrP(Sc))-like form. This investigation suggests that DKP based antiprion compounds can serve as a promising lead scaffold in developing new drugs to combat prion diseases.