Rolando Martínez

Study on the cytotoxic activity of drimane sesquiterpenes and nordrimane compounds against cancer cell lines

Twelve drimanes, including polygodial (1), isopolygodial (2), drimenol (3), confertifolin (4), and isodrimenin (5), were obtained from natural sources. Semi-synthetic derivatives 6–12 were obtained from 1 and 2, and cytotoxic activity was evaluated in vitro against cancer cell lines (HT-29, MDA-MB231, DHF, MCF-7, PC-3, DU-145, and CoN). IC50 values were determined at concentrations of 12.5–100 µM of each compound for 72 h. In addition, it was found that polygodial (1), 8, and 12 induced changes in mitochondrial membrane permeability in CoN, MCF-7, and PC-3 cells.

Cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of leptocarpin, a plant-derived sesquiterpene lactone, on human cancer cell lines

Sesquiterpene lactones have attracted much attention in drug research because they present a series of biological activities such as anticancer, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant. Leptocarpin (LTC) is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from a native Chilean plant, Leptocarpha rivularis, which has been widely used in traditional medicine by Mapuche people. Previous work has demonstrated that LTC decreases cell viability of cancer cell lines. In this contribution, we analyze the mechanism of LTC cytotoxicity on different cancer cell lines. The results show that in all cases LTC induces an apoptotic process and inhibition of NF-κB. Apoptosis has been confirmed by observing condensation of chromatin, nuclear fragmentation, release of cytochrome c into the cytosol, and increasing of caspase-3 activity. It has also been found that LTC is an effective inhibitor of NF-κB, which suggests that leptocarpin-induced cytotoxicity involves in some degree the inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway. The concentration at which LTC inhibits NF-κB activity to the control level is similar or even lower than that found for parthenolide and others sesquiterpene lactones. These results indicate that leptocarpine is a very interesting molecule that could be considered as therapeutic agent for cancer treatment.

SYNTHESIS AND CONFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS OF LEPTOCARPIN DERIVATIVES: INFLUENCE OF MODIFICATION OF THE OXIRANE RINGON LEPTOCARPIN'S CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY

The reaction in acidconditions of Leptocarpin 1, a compound with antitumor activity, formed two new isomeric products, 8b-angeloyl-1b,3b-dihydroxy-4,10-dimethyl,-D11(13) methylen-4Z,9Z-dieneheliangol-6,12-olide 2 and 8b-angeloyl-1b,3b-dihydroxy-4-methyl-D11(13),D11(14)-dimethylen-4Z-eneheliangol-6,12-olide 3, whose structures reported in this study were established by spectroscopy (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, MS and IR) and confirmedthrough ROESY experiments and theoretical studies by molecular mechanics. The in vitro cytotoxicity of these isomeric compounds was less active than leptocarpin, showing the importance of the oxirane ring in the biological activity. Cytotoxic activity was measured in six cancer cell lines

Effect of drimenol and synthetic derivatives on growth and germination of Botrytis cinerea: Evaluation of possible mechanism of action

The aim of this study was to determine the antifungal activity of Drimenol (1) and its synthetic derivatives, nordrimenone (2), drimenyl acetate (3), and drimenyl-epoxy-acetate (4), and to establish a possible mechanism of action for drimenol. For that, the effect of each compound on mycelial growth of Botrytis cinerea was assessed. Our results showed that compounds 1, 2, 3 and 4 are able to affect Botrytis cinerea growth with EC50 values of 80, 92, 80 and 314ppm, respectively. These values suggest that the activity of these compounds is mainly determined by presence of the double bond between carbons 7 and 8 of the drimane ring. In addition, germination of B. cinerea in presence of 40 and 80ppm of drimenol is reduced almost to a half of the control value. Finally, in order to elucidate a possible mechanism by which drimenol is affecting B. cinerea, the determination of membrane integrity, reactive oxygen species production and gene expression studies of specific genes were performed.

Antifungal effect of polygodial on Botrytis cinerea, a fungal pathogen affecting table grapes

The antifungal activity of polygodial, a secondary metabolite extracted from Canelo, on mycelial growth of different Botrytis cinerea isolates has been evaluated. The results show that polygodial affects growth of normal and resistant isolates of B. cinerea with EC50 values ranging between 117 and 175 ppm. In addition, polygodial markedly decreases the germination of B. cinerea, i.e., after six hours of incubation the percentage of germination decreases from 92% (control) to 25% and 5% in the presence of 20 ppm and 80 ppm of polygodial, respectively. Morphological studies indicate that conidia treated with polygodial are smaller, with irregular membrane border, and a lot of cell debris, as compared to conidia in the control. The existence of polygodial-induced membrane damage was confirmed by SYTOX® Green uptake assay. Gene expression studies confirm that the effect of polygodial on B. cinerea is mainly attributed to inhibition of germination and appears at early stages of B. cinerea development. On the other hand, drimenol, a drimane with chemical structure quite similar to polygodial, inhibits the mycelial growth efficiently. Thus, both compounds inhibit mycelial growth by different mechanisms. The different antifungal activities of these compounds are discussed in terms of the electronic density on the double bond.

Estudio teórico de la isomerización del ácido maleico en ácido fumárico: un enfoque basado en el concepto de superficie de energía potencial

A comparative study based on potential energy surfaces (PES) of 2-butanedioic and hypothetic 2-butanedioic/HCl acids is useful for understanding the maleic acid isomerization. The PES enables locating conformers of minimum energy, intermediates of reactions and transition states. From contour diagrams, a set of possible reaction paths are depicted interconnecting the proposed structures. The study was carried out in absentia and in the presence of the catalyst (HCl), using an solvatation model provided by the Gaussian software package. Clearly, the effect of HCl is given by new reaction paths with lower energetic barriers in relation to the reaction without catalyzing.

ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE IN THE QUADRUPOLE SPLITTING OF WATER BETWEEN CATIONIC AND ANIONIC NEMATIC LYOTROPIC LIQUID CRYSTALS: 2H-NMR AND MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY

Deuterium quadrupole splittings, of deuterated water, Δv, in anionic discotic nematic lyomesophases are always much larger than in cationic mesophases. To explore the possible origins of this difference, Δv and T1 relaxation times of HDO (H2O 0.2% D2O) and decanol (DeOH 14% a-d2), in solutions of cationic and anionic discotic lyotropic nematic liquid crystals, were measured using 2H-NMR. The four component mesophases were prepared based on tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, (TTAB/DeOH/NaBr/H2O), and cesium N-dodecanoyl-L-alaninate, (CsDAla/DeOH/KCl/H2O), amphiphiles with cationic and anionic head-groups, respectively. For a better understanding of the experimental results, 15 ns molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories of both systems were calculated. The results suggest that the large difference observed in the quadrupole splittings of the solvent can be mainly attributed to a preferential orientation of the water molecules, induced by the strong electric field generated by the electrical bilayer formed at the interface of the anionic mesophase. Restrictions to solvent reorientational dynamics or differences in the thickness of the interface do not seem to play a significant role to explain the observed difference

NEW SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SODIUM 3- N-ACETYLAMINO-2,4,6-TRIIODOBENZOATE: ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY EVALUATION

Se ha desarrollado una nueva sintesis y caracterizacion quimica por espectroscopia de masas e infrarroja, de 3-N-acetilamino-2,4,6-triyodo benzoato de sodio, un compuesto empleado como agente de contraste. Para su preparacion se ha desarrollado un metodo nuevo que consta de tres etapas, empleando como sustrato el acido 3-aminobenzoico. Tanto el intermedio 4 como el producto 5, mostraron actividad antibacteriana sobre Pseudomonas seruginosa ATCC Shigella flexneri

A THEORETICAL STUDY OF THE STEREOCHEMICAL COURSE OF THE ACID CYCLIZATION OF TWO 5-OXOGERMACREN- 6,12-OLIDES EPIMERIC IN C4

Se ha realizado el analisis conformacional y el estudio teorico del curso estereoquimico de las ciclaciones acidas de dos germacranolidas epimericas en C4, empleando el programa MM2 de HyperChem 4.5. La esteroquimica deducida de los productos de reaccion, 5-hydroxyguaian-6,12-olides, son plenamente concordante con los resultados experimentales reportados previamente. Tanto el principio de Curtin-Hammet como el postulado de Hammond, permiten proponer una explicacion a los resultados obtenidos