1. Synthesis of Piperlongumine Analogues and Discovery of Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 (Nrf2) Activators as Potential Neuroprotective Agents
- Author
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Baoxin Zhang, Jianguo Fang, Xianke Meng, Juan Yao, and Shoujiao Peng
- Subjects
Coumaric Acids ,NF-E2-Related Factor 2 ,Blotting, Western ,Apoptosis ,Pharmacology ,Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ,medicine.disease_cause ,PC12 Cells ,Neuroprotection ,Antioxidants ,Structure-Activity Relationship ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Downregulation and upregulation ,Drug Discovery ,medicine ,Animals ,Gene silencing ,RNA, Messenger ,RNA, Small Interfering ,Cytotoxicity ,Transcription factor ,Cells, Cultured ,Piperidones ,Piperlongumine ,Cell Proliferation ,Molecular Structure ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Dioxolanes ,Hydrogen Peroxide ,Cytoprotection ,Rats ,Cell biology ,Oxidative Stress ,Neuroprotective Agents ,chemistry ,Cinnamates ,Molecular Medicine ,Oxidative stress ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
The cellular antioxidant system plays key roles in blocking or retarding the pathogenesis of adult neurodegenerative disorders as elevated oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathophysiology of such diseases. Molecules with the ability in enhancing the antioxidant defense thus are promising candidates as neuroprotective agents. We reported herein the synthesis of piperlongumine analogues and evaluation of their cytoprotection against hydrogen peroxide- and 6-hydroxydopamine-induced neuronal cell oxidative damage in the neuron-like PC12 cells. The structure-activity relationship was delineated after the cytotoxicity and protection screening. Two compounds (4 and 5) displayed low cytotoxicity and confer potent protection of PC12 cells from the oxidative injury via upregulation of a panel of cellular antioxidant molecules. Genetically silencing the transcription factor Nrf2, a master regulator of the cellular stress responses, suppresses the cytoprotection, indicating the critical involvement of Nrf2 for the cellular action of compounds 4 and 5 in PC12 cells.
- Published
- 2015