RESUMO
AIM: To study the effects of nine synthetic clausenamide with different stereo structures on liver glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity in mice. METHODS: The nine test compounds were racemic mixtures and their ennatiomers of clausenamide, neoclausenamide and epineoclausenamide. Mice were administered clausenamide 250 mg/kg once daily for 3 consecutive days, ig, and were killed 24 h after the last dosing. The mouse liver cytosol GSH and GST were determined with related biochemical methods. RESULTS: Nine clausenamides exhibited different effects on liver GSH and GST. Of nine clausenamides, only (+) and (+/-)clausenamide markedly increased liver cytosol GSH content. The mechanism of increasing liver GSH content of (+)clausenamide is mainly due to stimulating the key limiting enzyme gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma-GCS) activity for GSH biosynthesis. The other test clausenamides had no such effect on liver GSH. All of the nine clausenamides induced a significant increase of GST activity. CONCLUSION: The effects of clausenamide ennatiomers on liver GST and GSH varied with the alterations of their spatial structures. (+)Clausenamide stimulated liver GSH biosynthesis through enhancing gamma-GCS activity.
