Observed crowding effects on Mycobacterium tuberculosis 2-trans-enoyl-ACP (CoA) reductase enzyme activity are not due to excluded volume only.

The cellular milieu is a complex and crowded aqueous solution. Macromolecular crowding effects are commonly studied in vitro using crowding agents. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects, if any, of macromolecular synthetic crowding agents on the apparent steady-state kinetic parameters (K m , k cat , and k cat /K m ) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis 2-trans-enoyl-ACP (CoA) reductase (InhA). Negligible effects on InhA activity were observed for ficoll 70, ficoll 400 and dextran 70. A complex effect was observed for PEG 6000. Glucose and sucrose showed, respectively, no effect on InhA activity and decreased k cat /K m for NADH and k cat for 2-trans-dodecenoyl-CoA. Molecular dynamics results suggest that InhA adopts a more compact conformer in sucrose solution. The effects of the crowding agents on the energy (E a and E η ), enthalpy (∆H # ), entropy (∆S # ), and Gibbs free energy (∆G # ) of activation were determined. The ∆G # values for all crowding agents were similar to buffer, suggesting that excluded volume effects did not facilitate stable activated ES # complex formation. Nonlinear Arrhenius plot for PEG 6000 suggests that "soft" interactions play a role in crowding effects. The results on InhA do not unequivocally meet the criteria for crowding effect due to exclude volume only.

Functional, thermodynamics, structural and biological studies of in silico-identified inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis enoyl-ACP(CoA) reductase enzyme.

Novel chemotherapeutics agents are needed to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). The M. tuberculosis 2-trans-enoyl-ACP(CoA) reductase enzyme (MtInhA) is the druggable bona fide target of isoniazid. New chemotypes were previously identified by two in silico approaches as potential ligands to MtInhA. The inhibition mode was determined by steady-state kinetics for seven compounds that inhibited MtInhA activity. Dissociation constant values at different temperatures were determined by protein fluorescence spectroscopy. van't Hoff analyses of ligand binding to MtInhA:NADH provided the thermodynamic signatures of non-covalent interactions (ΔH°, ΔS°, ΔG°). Phenotypic screening showed that five compounds inhibited in vitro growth of M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Labio_16 and Labio_17 compounds also inhibited the in vitro growth of PE-003 multidrug-resistant strain. Cytotoxic effects on Hacat, Vero and RAW 264.7 cell lines were assessed for the latter two compounds. The Labio_16 was bacteriostatic and Labio_17 bactericidal in an M. tuberculosis-infected macrophage model. In Zebrafish model, Labio_16 showed no cardiotoxicity whereas Labio_17 showed dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. Accordingly, a model was built for the MtInhA:NADH:Labio_16 ternary complex. The results show that the Labio_16 compound is a direct inhibitor of MtInhA, and it may represent a hit for the development of chemotherapeutic agents to treat TB.

Piperazine derivatives: synthesis, inhibition of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase and SAR studies.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis NADH-dependent enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (MtInhA) catalyzes hydride transfer to long-chain enoyl thioester substrates. MtInhA is a member of the mycobacterial type II dissociated fatty acid biosynthesis system, and is the bona fide target for isoniazid, the most prescribed drug for tuberculosis treatment. Here, a series of piperazine derivatives was synthesized and screened as MtInhA inhibitors, which resulted in the identification of compounds with IC50 values in the submicromolar range. A structure-activity relationship (SAR) evaluation indicated the importance of the chemical environment surrounding the carbonyl group for inhibition. In addition, the structure of one selected compound was supported by crystallographic studies, and experimental geometrical values were compared with semi-empirical quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, the mode of inhibition and inhibitory dissociation constants were determined for the nine most active compounds. These findings suggest that these 9H-fluoren-9-yl-piperazine-containing compounds interact with MtInhA at the enoyl thioester (2-trans-dodecenoyl-CoA) substrate binding site.

Structural improvement of compounds with analgesic activity: AC-MPF4, a compound with mixed anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activity via opioid receptor.

Successful pain control is a world health problem, which indicates an ever-growing need in the discovery of new molecules with improved analgesic activity and reduced side effects. The aim of this study was to describe the synthesis and biological activity of AC-MPF4, a new acetyl- and pyrazole-containing molecule derivate from MPF4. Firstly, we evaluated the analgesic and anti-edematogenic effect of AC-MPF4 in the carrageenan test. AC-MPF4 presented similar analgesic properties to MPF4 (opioid drug) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA-a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) (maximal effect of 85.4±10.9%, 62.0±11.0% and 95.0±10.4% of allodynia reduction, respectively). Regarding anti-edematogenic properties, AC-MPF4 presented similar results to ASA, while MPF4 presented no effect (maximal effect of 42.2±8.3% and 46.1±5.1% in paw thickness reduction, respectively). Remarkably, Naloxone fully prevented the analgesic effect of MPF4 and partially prevented the analgesic effect of AC-MPF4. However, neither ASA nor the anti-edematogenic activity was affected by Naloxone. The gastrointestinal motility and gastric mucosa integrity, which are parameters affected by opioid and NSAID drugs, respectively, were also evaluated. Neither of these parameters showed alterations induced by AC-MPF4, whereas ASA induced gastric ulceration (10 fold higher), and MPF4 decreased gastrointestinal motility (62.0±7.7%). Together, these data indicate that AC-MPF4 presents good analgesic and anti-edematogenic effects with no detectable side effects. AC-MPF4 may be considered a good prototype for the development of new analgesic/anti-inflammatory drugs.

Efficient and highly regioselective synthesis of ethyl 1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylates under ultrasound irradiation.

A series of 14 ethyl 1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylates has been synthesized from the cyclocondensation reaction of ethyl 4-methoxy-2-oxoalk[cycloalk]-3-enoates [EtO(2)CC(O)C(R(2))=C(R(1))OR, where R=H, Me; R(1)=Pr, Ph, 4-MeOC(6)H(4), 4-MeC(6)H(4), 4-FC(6)H(4), 4-ClC(6)H(4), 4-BrC(6)H(4), 4-NO(2)C(6)H(4), fur-2-yl; R(2)=H; R(1), R(2)=-(CH(2))(3)-, -(CH(2))(4)-, -(CH(2))(5)-, -(CH(2))(6)-, 3,4-dihydronaphth-2-yl] with 2,4-dichlorophenyl hydrazine hydrochloride under ultrasound irradiation with high regioselectivity and in 71-92% yields. The main goal of this methodology was the significant reduction of reaction times. The compounds were obtained after irradiation for 10-12 min. In addition, the structure of the ethyl 1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylates was supported by crystallographic data.