Maria Antonietta Dettori

Ceftriaxone Blocks the Polymerization of α-Synuclein and Exerts Neuroprotective Effects in Vitro

The β-lactam antibiotic ceftriaxone was suggested as a therapeutic agent in several neurodegenerative disorders, either for its ability to counteract glutamate-mediated toxicity, as in cerebral ischemia, or for its ability to enhance the degradation of misfolded proteins, as in Alexanders disease. Recently, the efficacy of ceftriaxone in neuroprotection of dopaminergic neurons in a rat model of Parkinsons disease was documented. However, which characteristics of ceftriaxone mediate its therapeutic effects remains unclear. Since, at the molecular level, neuronal α-synuclein inclusions and pathological α-synuclein transmission play a leading role in initiation of Parkinson-like neurodegeneration, we thought of investigating, by circular dichroism spectroscopy, the capability of ceftriaxone to interact with α-synuclein. We found that ceftriaxone binds with good affinity to α-synuclein and blocks its in vitro polymerization. Considering this finding, we also documented that ceftriaxone exerts neuroprotective action in an in vitro model of Parkinsons disease. Our data, in addition to the findings on neuroprotective activity of ceftriaxone on Parkinson-like neurodegeneration in vivo, indicates ceftriaxone as a potential agent in treatment of Parkinsons disease.

Enhanced anti-tumor activity of a new curcumin-related compound against melanoma and neuroblastoma cells

BackgroundSharing the common neuroectodermal origin, melanoma and neuroblastoma are tumors widely diffused among adult and children, respectively. Clinical prognosis of aggressive neuroectodermal cancers remains dismal, therefore the search for novel therapies against such tumors is warranted. Curcumin is a phytochemical compound widely studied for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Recently, we have synthesized and tested in vitro various curcumin-related compounds in order to select new anti-tumor agents displaying stronger and selective growth inhibition activity on neuroectodermal tumors.ResultsIn this work, we have demonstrated that the new α,β-unsaturated ketone D6 was more effective in inhibiting tumor cells growth when compared to curcumin. Normal fibroblasts proliferation was not affected by this treatment. Clonogenic assay showed a significant dose-dependent reduction in both melanoma and neuroblastoma colony formation only after D6 treatment. TUNEL assay, Annexin-V staining, caspases activation and PARP cleavage unveiled the ability of D6 to cause tumor cell death by triggering apoptosis, similarly to curcumin, but with a stronger and quicker extent. These apoptotic features appear to be associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release. In vivo anti-tumor activity of curcumin and D6 was surveyed using sub-cutaneous melanoma and orthotopic neuroblastoma xenograft models. D6 treated mice exhibited significantly reduced tumor growth compared to both control and curcumin treated ones (Melanoma: D6 vs control: P < 0.001 and D6 vs curcumin P < 0.01; Neuroblastoma: D6 vs both control and curcumin: P < 0.001).ConclusionsOur data indicate D6 as a good candidate to develop new therapies against neural crest-derived tumors.

Small molecules interacting with α-synuclein: antiaggregating and cytoprotective properties.

Curcumin, a dietary polyphenol, has shown a potential to act on the symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as a consequence of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-protein aggregation properties. Unfortunately, curcumin undergoes rapid degradation at physiological pH into ferulic acid, vanillin and dehydrozingerone, making it an unlikely drug candidate. Here, we evaluated the ability of some curcumin by-products: dehydrozingerone (1), its O-methyl derivative (2), zingerone (3), and their biphenyl analogues (4–6) to interact with α-synuclein (AS), using CD and fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, the antioxidant properties and the cytoprotective effects in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells prior to intoxication with H2O2, MPP+ and MnCl2 were examined while the Congo red assay was used to evaluate the ability of these compounds to prevent aggregation of AS. We found that the biphenyl zingerone analogue (6) interacts with high affinity with AS and also displays the best antioxidant properties while the biphenyl analogues of dehydrozingerone (4) and of O-methyl-dehydrozingerone (5) are able to partially inhibit the aggregation process of AS, suggesting the potential role of a hydroxylated biphenyl scaffold in the design of AS aggregation inhibitors.

Preparation and resolution of 2,2′-dimercapto-6,6′-dimethoxy-1,1′-biphenyl: a C2-symmetric sulfur building block

Abstract The preparation of the title dimercaptan 1 starting from 2,2′-dihydroxy-6,6′-dimethoxy-1,1′-biphenyl 2 is described. Resolution of dimercaptan 1 was performed using (−)-(1 R ,2 S ,5 R )-menthyl chloroformate as a chiral resolving agent. The procedure affords dimercaptan (+)- 1 and (−)- 1 in 98% ee and 93% ee, respectively. A new and direct intermolecular Ullmann coupling resulting in an improved preparation of diol 2 is also reported.

Natural and Natural-like Phenolic Inhibitors of Type B Trichothecene in Vitro Production by the Wheat (Triticum sp.) Pathogen Fusarium culmorum

Fusarium culmorum, a fungal pathogen of small grain cereals, produces 4-deoxynivalenol and its acetylated derivatives that may cause toxicoses on humans or animals consuming contaminated food or feed. Natural and natural-like compounds belonging to phenol and hydroxylated biphenyl structural classes were tested in vitro to determine their activity on vegetative growth and trichothecene biosynthesis by F. culmorum. Most of the compounds tested at 1.5 or 1.0 mM reduced 3-acetyl-4-deoxynivalenol production by over 70% compared to the control, without affecting fungal growth significantly. Furthermore, several compounds retained their ability to inhibit toxin in vitro production at the lowest concentrations of 0.5 and 0.25 mM. Magnolol 27 showed fungicidal activity even at 0.1 mM. No linear correlation was observed between antioxidant properties of the compounds and their ability to inhibit fungal growth and mycotoxigenic capacity. A guaiacyl unit in the structure may play a key role in trichothecene inhibition.

Stereoselective oxazaborolidine–borane reduction of biphenyl alkyl diketones–lignin models: enantiopure dehydrodiapocynol derivatives

Abstract Asymmetric reduction of two conformationally flexible biphenyl alkyl diketones 9 and 10 with (R)-oxazaborolidine 3-borane system was successfully carried out and the corresponding biphenyl alcohols 11 and 12 were obtained in high yield and e.e. with predominance of the homochiral (S,S) dicarbinols. The absolute configuration of diastereopure dehydrodiapocynol derivative (S,S)-14 was assigned by crystallographic analysis which confirms the known stereochemical course of CBS-catalysed reduction of ketones and gives useful information on spatial arrangement.

Antioxidant potential of curcumin-related compounds studied by chemiluminescence kinetics, chain-breaking efficiencies, scavenging activity (ORAC) and DFT calculations

Summary This study compares the ability to scavenge different peroxyl radicals and to act as chain-breaking antioxidants of monomers related to curcumin (1): dehydrozingerone (2), zingerone (3), (2Z,5E)-ethyl 2-hydroxy-6-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-4-oxohexa-2,5-dienoate (4), ferulic acid (5) and their corresponding C 2-symmetric dimers 6–9. Four models were applied: model 1 – chemiluminescence (CL) of a hydrocarbon substrate used for determination of the rate constants (k A) of the reactions of the antioxidants with peroxyl radicals; model 2 – lipid autoxidation (lipidAO) used for assessing the chain-breaking antioxidant efficiency and reactivity; model 3 – oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), which yields the activity against peroxyl radicals generated by an azoinitiator; model 4 – density functional theory (DFT) calculations at UB3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level, applied to explain the structure–activity relationship. Dimers showed 2–2.5-fold higher values of k A than their monomers. Model 2 gives information about the effects of the side chains and revealed much higher antioxidant activity for monomers and dimers with α,β-unsaturated side chains. Curcumin and 6 in fact are dimers of the same monomer 2. We conclude that the type of linkage between the two “halves” by which the molecule is made up does not exert influence on the antioxidant efficiency and reactivity of these two dimers. The dimers and the monomers demonstrated higher activity than Trolox (10) in aqueous medium (model 3). A comparison of the studied compounds with DL-α-tocopherol (11), Trolox and curcumin is made. All dimers are characterized through lower bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) than their monomers (model 4), which qualitatively supports the experimental results.

Molecular changes induced by the curcumin analogue D6 in human melanoma cells

BackgroundIn a previous report, we described the in vitro and in vivo antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity of a hydroxylated biphenyl (D6), a structural analogue of curcumin, on malignant melanoma and neuroblastoma tumours. In this paper, we investigated the molecular changes induced by such a compound, underlying cell growth arrest and apoptosis in melanoma cells.ResultsTo shed light on the mechanisms of action of D6, we firstly demonstrated its quick cellular uptake and subsequent block of cell cycle in G2/M phase transition. A gene expression profile analysis of D6-treated melanoma cells and fibroblasts was then carried out on high density microarrays, to assess gene expression changes induced by this compound. The expression profile study evidenced both an induction of stress response pathways and a modulation of cell growth regulation mechanisms. In particular, our data suggest that the antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities of D6 in melanoma could be partially driven by up-regulation of the p53 signalling pathways as well as by down-regulation of the PI3K/Akt and NF-kB pathways. Modulation of gene expression due to D6 treatment was verified by western blot analysis for single proteins of interest, confirming the results from the gene expression profile analysis.ConclusionsOur findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of action of D6, through a comprehensive description of the molecular changes induced by this compound at the gene expression level, in agreement with the previously reported anti-tumour effects on melanoma cells.

C2-Symmetric sulfur derivatives of 2,2′,3,3′-tetramethoxybiphenyl

Abstract A practical route to prepare dithioether, thiophene and thiophene S -dioxide derivatives of 2,2′,3,3′-tetramethoxy-1,1′-biphenyl 1 is described. Resolution of 6,6′-bis(methylthio)-3,3′-dimethoxy-[1,1′-biphenyl]-2,2′-diol 15 was achieved and its absolute configuration was assigned by X-ray analysis of the corresponding phosphorothioamidate diastereomer 18 .

Chiral nonracemic C2-symmetry biphenyls by desymmetrization of 6,6′,2,2′-tetramethoxy-1,1′-biphenyl

Abstract Regioselective bromination of the title biphenyl 1 at the 3 and 3′ positions and simultaneous desymmetrization of the biphenyl has been achieved. Metal–halide exchange at the 3,3′ positions facilitated the introduction of functional groups in good yield. Regioselective reduction was obtained by using (CH3)3SiI, L-Selectride and HI according to the functional groups on the biphenyls. Resolution of 6,6′,2,2′-tetramethoxy-3,3′-dimethyl-1,1′-biphenyl 3 was achieved by its conversion to the corresponding phosphorothioamidate diastereomers of the (S)-(−)-α-methylbenzylamine. The absolute configuration of (M)-(+)-3 was confirmed by X-ray analysis of the corresponding diastereomer.