Biotransformation of isoimperatorin by rat liver microsomes and its quantification by LC-MS/MS method.

The aim of the present research was to establish a comprehensive strategy to identify the metabolites of isoimperatorin after biotransformation with rat liver microsomes in vitro, and further describe metabolic kinetic characteristics of isoimperatorin and its main metabolites. Utilizing liquid chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS), 18 metabolites (M 1-18) were characterized according to the typical fragment ions and literature data. Among them, M-2, 3, 5, 9, 10, and 15 were new compounds. To further verify structures of the metabolites, five main metabolites were obtained from the magnifying biotransformation incubation system, and their chemical structures were elucidated as 8-hydroxyoxypeucedanin (M-3), hydroxypeucedanin hydrate (M-4), E-5-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-alkenyloxy)-psoralen (M-11), Z-5-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-alkenyloxy)-psoralen (M-12), and oxypeucedanin (M-16) by various spectroscopy methods including IR, MS and NMR. A simple new liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of isoimperatorin and its main metabolites. The analysis was performed on a Diamonsil™ ODS C18 column with acetonitrile-water containing 0.1% formic acid as mobile phase. Total run time was 20.0 min. The results suggested that the method we exhibited was successfully applied for analysis of isoimperatorin and its metabolites. The study provides essential data for proposing metabolite pathway and further pharmacological study of isoimperatorin.

Evaluation of nanoparticles loaded with benzopsoralen in rat peritoneal exudate cells.

Psoralens are widely used for the treatment of hyperproliferative skin disease. In this work, we prepared nanoparticles (NP) containing a benzopsoralen (3-ethoxy carbonyl-2H-benzofuro[3,2-f]-1-benzopiran-2-one) by the solvent evaporation technique. We evaluated important NP parameters such as particle size, drug encapsulation efficiency, effect of the encapsulation process over the drug's photochemistry, zeta potential, external morphology, and in vitro release behavior. We also investigated the nanoparticle as a drug delivery system (DDS), as well as its target delivery to the action site, which is a very important parameter to increase the therapeutic use of psoralens and to reduce their side effects. The uptake of benzopsoralen-loaded PLGA nanoparticles by different kinds of cells found in rat peritoneal exudates was also studied. The photodamage promoted by irradiation with UV light revealed morphological characteristics of cell damage such as cytoplasmic vesiculation, mitochondrial damage, and swelling of both the granular endoplasmatic reticulum and nuclear membrane. This encapsulation method maintained the drug's properties and improved drug delivery to the target cell.

3D QSAR studies on binding affinities of coumarin natural products for glycosomal GAPDH of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Drug design strategies based on Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) have been used to predict the activity of new compounds. The major advantage of this approach is that it permits the analysis of a large number of quantitative descriptors and uses chemometric methods such as partial least squares (PLS) to correlate changes in bioactivity with changes in chemical structure. Because it is often difficult to rationalize all variables affecting the binding affinity of compounds using CoMFA solely, the program GRID was used to describe ligands in terms of their molecular interaction fields, MIFs. The program VolSurf that is able to compress the relevant information present in 3D maps into a few descriptors can treat these GRID fields. The binding affinities of a new set of compounds consisting of 13 coumarins, for one of which the three-dimensional ligand-enzyme bound structure is known, were studied. A final model based on the mentioned programs was independently validated by synthesizing and testing new coumarin derivatives. By relying on our knowledge of the real physical data (i.e., combining crystallographic and binding affinity results), it is also shown that ligand-based design agrees with structure-based design. The compound with the highest binding affinity was the coumarin chalepin, isolated from Rutaceae species, with an IC50 value of 55.5 microM towards the enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) from glycosomes of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. The proposed models from GRID MIFs have revealed the importance of lipophilic interactions in modulating the inhibition, but without excluding the dependence on stereo-electronic properties as found from CoMFA fields.

Structure of Trypanosoma cruzi glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase complexed with chalepin, a natural product inhibitor, at 1.95 A resolution.

The structure of the glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) from Trypanosoma cruzi complexed with chalepin, a natural product from Pilocarpus spicatus, has been determined by X-ray crystallography to 1.95 A resolution. The structure is in the apo form without cofactors in the subunits of the tetrameric gGAPDH in the asymmetric unit. Unequivocal density corresponding to the inhibitor was clearly identified in one monomer. The final refined model of the complex shows extensive conformational changes when compared with the native structure. The mode of binding of chalepin to gGAPDH and its implications for inhibitor design are discussed.

Interaction of [3H]8-methoxypsoralen with cultured normal human epidermal melanocytes

FUNDAMENTOS - O tratamento normalmente usado para o vitiligo envolve a combinaçäo de 8-metoxipsoraleno (8-MOP) e radiaçäo ultravioleta A, conhecida como PUVA-terapia. Embora a estimulaçäo da proliferaçäo e diferenciaçäo de melanócitos possa explicar a eficiência da PUVA-terapia no tratamento do vitiligo, até a presente data, näo se demonstrou nenhuma interaçäo direta desse composto com melanócitos humanos normais em cultura. OBJETIVOS - Estudar a interaçäo de [3H]8-metoxipsoraleno com melanócitos humanos normais em cultura obtidos de indivíduos de cor branca e negra. MÉTODOS - Melanócitos humanos normais isolados de prepúcios de crianças e mantidos em meio MCDB-153 na ausência de soro, éster de forbol (PMA) e toxina da cólera, foram incubados com [3H]8-metoxipsoraleno para determinaçäo da ligaçäo específica a essas células. RESULTADOS - Melanócitos isolados de ambos os tipos de pele, mostraram ligaçäo com 8-MOP, embora uma maior porcentagem de ligaçäo tenha sido observada em melanócitos isolados de pessoas de cor negra. CONCLUSÖES - A capacidade proliferativa de melanócitos humanos normais varia de acordo com a cor racial. É possível que as diferenças observadas na ligaçäo do psoraleno, estejam relacionadas com diferenças quanto ao número de receptores de psoralenos entre melanócitos isolados de pele clara e escura

Formation of cyclobutane thymine dimers from UVA photosensitization of pyridopsoralen monoadducted DNA.

The present report provides evidence that thymine dimerization can be UVA photosensitized at a tetranucleotide, 5'-TATT-3', by a 7-methyl-pyrido(3,4-c)psoralen monoadduct in DNA. The efficiency of the photoprocess depends on the tetranucleotide flanking sequences. These results demonstrate that one DNA lesion can originate the contiguous formation of a second type of lesion and emphasize the sequence-specific response to interaction of drugs with DNA. Results are related to the sensitivity of DNA to 1,10-phenanthroline-cuprous ion complex nucleolytic activity and discussed in terms of the major role of local deformability of DNA in interaction with ligands.