Antidepressant effect of 4-Butyl-alpha-agarofuran via HPA axis and serotonin system.

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and the psychiatric diagnosis most commonly associated with suicide. 4-Butyl-alpha-agarofuran (AF-5), a derivative of agarwood furan, is currently in phase III clinical trials for generalized anxiety disorder. Herein, we explored the antidepressant effect and its possible neurobiological mechanisms in animal models. In present study, AF-5 administration markedly decreased the immobility time in mouse forced swim test and tail suspension test. In the sub-chronic reserpine-induced depressive rats, AF-5 treatment markedly increased the rectal temperature and decreased the immobility time of model rats. In addition, chronic AF-5 treatment markedly reversed the depressive-like behaviors in chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rats by reducing immobility time of forced swim test. Single treatment with AF-5 also potentiated the mouse head-twitch response induced by 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP, a metabolic precursor to serotonin), and antagonized the ptosis and motor ability triggered by reserpine. However, AF-5 had no effect on yohimbine toxicity in mice. These results indicated that acute treatment with AF-5 produced serotonergic, but not noradrenergic activation. Furthermore, AF-5 reduced adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) level in serum and normalized the neurotransmitter changes, including the decreased serotonin (5-HT) in hippocampus of CUMS rats. Moreover, AF-5 affected the expressions of CRFR1 and 5-HT2C receptor in CUMS rats. These findings confirm the antidepressant effect of AF-5 in animal models, which may be primarily related to CRFR1 and 5-HT2C receptor. AF-5 appears to be promising as a novel dual target drug for depression treatment.

Bio-orthogonally activated tetraphenylene-tetrazine aggregation-induced emission fluorogenic probes.

Tetrazine-based bio-orthogonally activated fluorogenic probes have drawn great attention due to their excellent performance in bioimaging; however, most of them suffer from aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) problems. Herein, we developed a set of novel tetrazine-modified tetraphenylenes (TPEs) as bio-orthogonally activated aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorogenic probes. Both the fluorescence and AIE features are quenched by tetrazine, which is mediated by the through-bond energy-transfer (TBET) mechanism, and are activated upon converting tetrazine to pyridazine via the inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder (iEDDA) reaction. The activated cycloadducts displayed a notable fluorescence enhancement, a large Stokes shift, a high fluorescence quantum yield, and evident AIE-active features. Manipulating the length and position of the π-linker enables fine-tuning of the photophysical properties of the probes, while an overlong planar π-linker leads to AIE-to-ACQ transformation. We also designed bi-tetrazyl-substituted probes, which exhibited a higher turn-on ratio than the mono-tetrazyl analogs owing to the 'double-quenched' function. When they reacted with double-clickable linkers, fluorescent macrocycles were obtained because of the restriction of the free rotation of the phenyl rings of TPE. Using an organelle-pretargeting strategy, we succeeded in applying these probes for mitochondria-specific bio-orthogonal imaging in live cells under no-wash conditions, which is expected to provide a powerful tool for biomedical applications.

Bioorthogonally applicable multicolor fluorogenic naphthalimide-tetrazine probes with aggregation-induced emission characters.

A series of naphthalimide-tetrazines were developed as bioorthogonal fluorogenic probes, which could produce significant fluorescence enhancement, notable aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characters and multicolor emissions after bioorthogonal reaction with strained dienophiles. Manipulating the π-bridge in the fluorophore skeleton allows fine-tuning of the emission wavelength and influences the AIE-active properties. With these probes, we succeeded in no-wash fluorogenic protein labeling and mitochondria-selective bioorthogonal imaging in live cells.

Developing fluoromodule-based probes for in vivo monitoring the bacterial infections and antibiotic responses.

Recently, antibiotic resistant has become a serious public health concern, which warrants new generations of antibiotics to be developed. Pharmacodynamic evaluation is crucial in drug discovery processes. Despite numerous advanced imaging systems are available nowadays, technologies for the sensitive in vivo diagnosis of bacterial infections and direct visualization of drug efficacy are yet to be developed. In this study, we have developed novel near-infrared (NIR) fluorogenic probes. These probes are dark in solution but highly fluorescent when bound to the cognate reporter, fluorogen-activating protein (FAP). We established the in vivo bacterial infection model using FAP_dH6.2 recombinantly expressed E. coli and applied this NIR fluoromodule-based system for diagnosing bacterial infections and monitoring disease progressions and its responses to a type of antibiotics through classic mechanism of membrane lysis. This NIR fluoromodule-based system will discover new information on bacterial infections and identify newer antibacterial entities.

Design of Nitroso-Modified Naphthylene-Based Fluorophores as Photoactivatable Bioorthogonal Turn-On Probes.

We reported a series of nitroso-modified naphthylene-based fluorophores as novel bioorthogonal fluorescence turn-on probes. The cycloadducts from nitroso-diene Diels-Alder reaction could be either photochemically or spontaneously transformed into highly fluorescent rearrangement products with remarkable photophysical properties including significant fluorescence enhancement, large Stokes shift, high fluorescence quantum yield, superior photostability, and distinct solvatochromic effect. This strategy is suitable for selective labeling of diene-modified proteins and visualizing specific organelles in live mammalian cells under no-wash conditions.

Formation and Disproportionation of Xanthenols to Xanthenes and Xanthones and Their Use in Synthesis.

A facile and versatile strategy employing TiCl4-mediated cyclization followed by a Cannizzaro reaction has been developed for the synthesis of various xanthene derivatives. The reaction proceeded smoothly to afford both xanthenes/xanthones or their sulfur derivatives and tolerated a wide range of electronically diverse substrates. Using this methodology, pranoprofen was synthesized in three steps in 59% overall yield from commercially available starting materials.

Design and synthesis of analogues of the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 agonist IMMH001 with improved phosphorylation rate in human blood.

IMMH001, which is a prodrug for sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) agonist, is converted to the active form, its monophosphate ester (S)-IMMH001-P, by sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) and sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) in vivo. In this study, we designed head-piece-modified analogues of IMMH001 based on structural information and prepared them with an efficient modular synthetic strategy. The analogues showed higher phosphorylation rates in human blood than the parent compound. These results indicated that the pro-R hydroxymethyl in the head-piece-moiety of IMMH001 prevents the pro-S hydroxymethyl from being phosphorylated by the kinase and ATP. The analogues may have better therapeutic potential.

Design and synthesis of selective sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 agonists with increased phosphorylation rates.

FTY720 and IMMH002, prodrugs for sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) agonists, show inadequate and inconsistent levels of phosphorylation in humans compared to that in rats. In this study, FTY720 or IMMH002 analogues (21-24) were designed and synthesized with modified head pieces to improve the biotransformation of the prodrugs to the active phosphorylated forms. Target compounds were synthesized via a convergent route using the key and optically pure building block 9, which was first synthesized via asymmetrically catalyzed amination. The phosphorylation rates of these analogues in rat or human blood were compared. The new methyl-substituted analogue compound 21 showed higher phosphorylation rates in both rats and humans than the parent compound, whereas compound 23 showed improvements in rats, but not in humans. In pharmacokinetics studies of rats, compounds 21 and 23 both had higher levels of phosphorylation than FTY720 and IMMH002. Thus, our study not only yielded new compounds with therapeutic potential, but also showed species differences between rats and humans in response to the structural modifications, which might be useful for predicting the biotransformation behavior and efficacy of this class of prodrugs in the clinic.

Gasserian Ganglion Stimulation for Facial Pain.

Non-neuralgic trigeminal neuropathic pain can be challenging in terms of treatment as pharmacological interventions often tend to be ineffective. Within the pain-transmitting pathway, the Gasserian ganglion (GG) is a rather unique anatomical and physiological structure where the sensory (including pain) information from the entire half of the face undergoes primary processing in a very compact and clearly defined entity. Moreover, GG is positioned in a completely immobile intradural location (the Meckel's cave) and is insulated from the brain by a layer of dura. As a confluence of all three trigeminal branches, GG allows one to achieve clinical effect on the entire half of the face with a relatively small surgical intervention while maintaining an ability to select exact facial regions based on known somatotopic organization of nerve fibers. Therefore, when it comes to electrical neuromodulation, the GG stimulation (GGS) may be a unique solution for treatment of medically refractory facial pain. GGS was introduced in 1970s and continues to be a recognized surgical modality with multiple published clinical series describing multi-year experience in hundreds of facial pain patients. GGS is particularly useful in treatment of patients with chronic trigeminal neuropathic pain and persistent idiopathic facial pain who tried and failed or were not considered good candidates for the conventional surgical interventions. With advances in lead technology, intraoperative visualization and stereotactic navigation, percutaneous GGS became a minimally invasive surgical intervention that is recommended for consideration in complex facial pain. Here, we review the clinical data and summarize the current state of GGS in facial pain treatment.

S1P1-selective agonist prodrug IMMH002 is phosphorylated in rats to form an S-configured enantiomer: Synthesis, verification, and biological activity of the in vivo active metabolite.

IMMH002 (1), a prodrug for a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) agonist, is converted to the monophosphate ester, which has an immunomodulatory effect. Starting from prochiral amino alcohol 1, racemic and enantiomerically pure phosphates of 1 were synthesized. Pure enantiomers were obtained after the chiral resolution of the key intermediate by chiral high-performance liquid chromatography and the absolute configuration was determined by circular dichroism. In the in vitro homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence-IP1 functional assay, the (S)-enantiomer showed much higher S1P1 activity and selectivity than the (R)-enantiomer. In the pharmacokinetic study, the ex vivo o-phthaldialdehyde derivatization protocol showed that the phosphate of 1 in rats was the S-configured enantiomer with >99% enantiomeric excess.

A novel S1P1 modulator IMMH002 ameliorates psoriasis in multiple animal models.

Psoriasis is characterized by abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes, as well as infiltration of immune cells into the dermis and epidermis, causing itchy, scaly and erythematous plaques of skin. The understanding of this chronic inflammatory skin disease remains unclear and all available treatments have their limitations currently. Here, we showed that IMMH002, a novel orally active S1P1 modulator, desensitized peripheral pathogenic lymphocytes to egress signal from secondary lymphoid organs and thymus. Using different psoriasis animal models, we demonstrated that IMMH002 could significantly relieve skin damage as revealed by PASI score and pathological injure evaluation. Mechanistically, IMMH002 regulated CD3+ T lymphocytes re-distribution by inducing lymphocytes' homing, thus decreased T lymphocytes allocation in the peripheral blood and skin but increased in the thymus. Our results suggest that the novel S1P1 agonist, IMMH002, exert extraordinary capacity to rapidly modulate T lymphocytes distribution, representing a promising drug candidate for psoriasis treatment.

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Amidobenzimidazole Derivatives as Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) Receptor Agonists.

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is an endoplasmic reticulum-localized adaptor protein (STING receptor) that has been shown to be activated by binding to natural cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) ligands and plays a vital role in innate immune sensing of exogenous or endogenous DNA, which then induces type I interferons and other cytokines. In this paper, we described a series of amidobenzimidazole STING agonists with high potency for the STING receptor and presented the relevant structure-activity relationships (SARs). The relative potencies of compounds 16g, 24b, and 24e were measured by a STING competition binding assay. A more thorough study of the effect on the STING signaling pathway demonstrated that three compounds, 16g, 24b, and 24e, significantly increased the protein levels and mRNA levels of IFN-ß, CXCL10, and IL-6, and 24b as a representative compound effectively triggered the phosphorylation of STING, TBK1, and IRF3 in both human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs) and WT THP-1 cells. In addition, compound 24b demonstrated impressive antitumor efficacy in mice with established syngeneic colon tumors by intravenous administration. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic profile of compound 24b was fully evaluated.

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor Subtype 1 (S1P1) Modulator IMMH001 Regulates Adjuvant- and Collagen-Induced Arthritis.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 (S1P1) is essential for lymphocyte egress from lymphoid organs into systemic circulation and provides a well-defined drug target for autoimmune disorders. IMMH001, also called SYL930, is a specific S1P1/S1P4/S1P5 modulator. Here, we investigated the potential therapeutic effect of IMMH001 on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IMMH001 rendered periphery blood lymphocytes insensitive to the egress signal from secondary lymphoid organs. Importantly, in both rat adjuvant-induced arthritis and collagen-induced arthritis models, IMMH001 treatment significantly inhibited the progression of RA and RA-associated histological changes in the joints of Sprague-Dawley rats, including hind paw swelling and arthritic index, and thus reduced the pathological score. Furthermore, IMMH001 markedly decreased proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine release from the damaged joints. These data demonstrated that IMMH001 is a promising drug candidate for RA treatment.

Development of 4-oxime-1,8-naphthalimide as a bioorthogonal turn-on probe for fluorogenic protein labeling.

4-Oxime-1,8-naphthalimide was reported as a novel bioorthogonal turn-on probe based on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between in situ generated nitrile oxide and alkenes/alkynes. The resulting isoxazole products displayed dramatically strong fluorescence enhancement upon photoirradiation through isoxazole-oxazole photoisomerization. This new methodology was successfully applied for in situ fluorogenic protein labeling.

One-Pot Synthesis of O-Heterocycles or Aryl Ketones Using an InCl3/Et3SiH System by Switching the Solvent.

An efficient one-pot synthesis of O-heterocycles or aryl ketones has been achieved using Et3SiH in the presence of InCl3 via a sequential ionic hydrogenation reaction by switching the solvent. This methodology can be used to construct C-O bonds and to prepare conjugate reduction products, including chromans, tetrahydrofurans, tetrahydropyrans, dihydroisobenzofurans, dihydrochalcones, and 1,4-diones in a facile manner. In addition, a novel plausible mechanism involving a conjugate reduction and a tandem reductive cyclization was verified by experimental investigations.

A Computational Approach to the Study of the Binding Mode of S1P1R Agonists Based on the Active-Like Receptor Model.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1R), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family, is an attractive protein target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and a diverse array of S1P1R agonists have been developed. Rational drug design based on S1P1R remains challenging due to the limited information available on the binding mode between S1P1R and its agonists. In this work, the active-like state of S1P1R was modeled via Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) based on its inactive form, which was further validated by docking studies with two representative S1P1R agonists. Moreover, with the usage of the induced active-like state, the binding mode between S1P1R and its agonists was studied through molecular dynamics simulations and MM-GBSA calculations. The results of those studies indicated that four groups of binding site residues were the major contributors to the ligand and receptor interactions. In addition, this model was verified by five chemically similar compounds synthesized in-house and 1145 known S1P1R agonists collected from the BindingDB database. The elucidation of the key binding characteristics will further complete the cognition of S1P1R, which can guide the rational design of novel S1P1R agonists.

Occipital Nerve Stimulation.

Although the first publications on clinical use of peripheral nerve stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain came out in the mid-1960s, it took 10 years before this approach was used to stimulate the occipital nerves. The future for occipital nerve stimulation is likely to bring new indications, devices, stimulation paradigms, and a decrease in invasiveness. As experience increases, one may expect that occipital nerve stimulation will eventually gain regulatory approval for more indications, most likely for occipital neuralgia, migraines and cluster headaches. This process may require additional studies, at least for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Autophagy alleviates the decrease in proliferation of amyloid ß1­42­treated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and osteoporosis (OP) are 2 common progressive age­associated diseases, primarily affecting the elderly worldwide. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that patients with AD are more likely to suffer from bone mass loss and even OP, but whether it is a pathological feature of AD or secondary to motor dysfunction remains poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate whether amyloid­ß1­42 (Aß1­42), the typical pathological product of AD, exhibited a negative effect on the proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and the role of autophagy. The proliferation of BMSCs was measured using a Cell Counting Kit­8 assay, cell cycle analysis and 5­ethynyl­2'­deoxyuridine (EdU) staining. The autophagy­associated proteins microtubule­associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B and sequestosome 1 (p62) were evaluated by western blot analysis and autophagosomes were detected by transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence. The activity of the protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway was measured using western blot analysis, and the autophagy inducer rapamycin (RAPA), inhibitor 3­methyladenine (3­MA) and the AKT activator SC79 were also used to investigate the role of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and autophagy in the proliferation of BMSCs. The results suggested that the proliferation of BMSCs treated with Aß1­42 was inhibited, with the autophagy level increasing following treatment with Aß1­42 in a dose­dependent manner, while the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway participated in the regulation of the autophagy level. Activation of autophagy using RAPA inhibited the decrease in proliferation of BMSCs, while suppression of autophagy by 3­MA and activation of the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway increased the decrease in proliferation of BMSCs caused by Aß1­42. It was concluded that Aß1­42, as an external stimulus, suppressed the proliferation of BMSCs directly and that the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway participated in the regulation of the level of autophagy. Concomitantly, autophagy may serve as a resistance mechanism in inhibiting the decreased proliferation of BMSCs treated with Aß1­42.

In Vitro and In Vivo Activities of the Riminophenazine TBI-166 against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The riminophenazine agent clofazimine (CFZ) is repurposed as an important component of the new short-course multidrug-resistant tuberculosis regimen and significantly shortens first-line regimen for drug-susceptible tuberculosis in mice. However, CFZ use is hampered by its unwelcome skin discoloration in patients. A new riminophenazine analog, TBI-166, was selected as a potential next-generation antituberculosis riminophenazine following an extensive medicinal chemistry effort. Here, we evaluated the activity of TBI-166 against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its potential to accumulate and discolor skin. The in vitro activity of TBI-166 against both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant M.tuberculosis is more potent than that of CFZ. Spontaneous mutants resistant to TBI-166 were found at a frequency of 2.3 × 10-7 in wild strains of M. tuberculosis TBI-166 demonstrates activity at least equivalent to that of CFZ against intracellular M. tuberculosis and in low-dose aerosol infection models of acute and chronic murine tuberculosis. Most importantly, TBI-166 causes less skin discoloration than does CFZ despite its higher tissue accumulation. The efficacy of TBI-166, along with its decreased skin pigmentation, warrants further study and potential clinical use.

Asymmetric amination of α,α-dialkyl substituted aldehydes catalyzed by a simple chiral primary amino acid and its application to the preparation of a S1P1 agonist.

The chiral catalytic amination of an α,α-dialkyl substituted aldehyde usually proceeds with low enantioselectivity. We selected naphthyl-l-alanine as the catalyst and observed improved enantioselectivity for the amination. Using this method, racemic α-methyl-α-benzyloxypropanal was aminated to give chiral serine derivatives in 74% ee, which was further increased to >99% ee after recrystallization. Moreover, we also successfully synthesized a chiral phosphonium salt 9 for the preparation of one α-substituted alaninol compound 14 as an S1P1 agonist in high overall yield.