Inhibition of Adipogenesis by Thiourea Derivatives.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is one of the major health problems with inherent risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, CVDs, etc. Adipogenesis is a major contributor in the process of obesity. Inhibition of adipocytes differentiation is one of the key approaches to treat obesity. OBJECTIVE: To discover the new inhibitors of adipogenesis as the treatment for obesity. METHOD: We describe here, the synthesis, and anti-adipogenic activity of thiourea derivatives 1-14. These derivatives were synthesized by the reactions of phenyl and pentafluorophenyl isothiocyanate with different aromatic amines. Pure compounds 1-14 were evaluated for their in vitro antiadipogenesis activity employing 3T3-L1 cells lines. RESULTS: Compounds 1-3, 5-9, and 11-14 significantly inhibited the pre-adipocyte differentiation into adipocytes, which was measured by staining the cells, and through morphological examination. Compound 10 (1-(4"-Chlorophenyl)-3-(pentafluorophenyl)-thiourea) showed a potent inhibition of adipocyte differentiation with IC50 = 740.00 ± 2.36 nM, which was more potent than the standards, epigallocatechin gallate (IC50 = 16.73 ± 1.34 µM), and curcumin (IC50 = 18.62 ± 0.74 µM). All other compounds showed a moderate to weak anti-adipogenesis activity. Compounds 1- 14 were also evaluated for their cytotoxicity. Compounds 3, 10, and 14 showed some toxicity to the cancer cell lines, while compounds 2, 3, 10, 12, and 14 showed a moderate to weak cytotoxicity against the normal cell lines. CONCLUSION: All the compounds reported in this paper are known, except compound 11. They have been identified as new inhibitors of Adipogenesis. Adipogenesis is the process of adipocytes differentiation from pre-adipocytes. This extensively studied model of cell diff differentiation. Further synthetic modifications, and optimization of anti-adipogenic activity may lead to the development of anti-obesity agents.

Phytotherapeutics: The Emerging Role of Intestinal and Hepatocellular Transporters in Drug Interactions with Botanical Supplements.

In herbalism, botanical supplements are commonly believed to be safe remedies, however, botanical supplements and dietary ingredients interact with transport and metabolic processes, affecting drug disposition. Although a large number of studies have described that botanical supplements interfere with drug metabolism, the mode of their interaction with drug transport processes is not well described. Such interactions may result in serious undesired effects and changed drug efficacy, therefore, some studies on interaction between botanical supplement ingredients and drug transporters such as P-gp and OATPs are described here, suggesting that the interaction between botanical supplements and the drug transporters is clinically significant.

Antifungal and cytotoxic activities of Nannorrhops ritchiana roots extract.

This atudy was designed to evaluate the antifungal and cytotoxic activities of the Nannorrhops ritchiana (Mazari Palm) 80% methanol extract (NR-M) and its four crude extracts i.e., petroleum ether (NR-A), dichloromethane (NR-B), ethyl acetate (NR-C) and butanol (NR-D). The antifungal activity was determined by agar tube dilution method against nine fungal strains; Aspergillus flavus, Trichophyton longifusis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Aspergillus flavus and Microsporum canis were susceptible to the extracts with percentage inhibition of (70-80%). Extracts exhibited significant and good antifungal activity against various fungal strains. The results were deduced by comparing with those for miconazole, amphotericin B and ketoconazole as standard drugs. The fractions of methanolic extract were assayed for their brine shrimp cytotoxic activity. They exhibited low toxicity with LC50 values ranging from 285.7 to 4350.75 µg/mL at the concentration of obtained results warrant follow up through bioassay guided isolation of the active principles, future antiinfectious research.