Search

Tacrine (THA), the first clinically effective acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor and the first approved drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), was withdrawn from the market due to its side effects, particularly its hepatotoxicity. Nowadays, THA serves as a valuable scaffold for the design of novel agents potentially applicable for AD treatment. One such compound, namely 7-methoxytacrine (7-MEOTA), exhibits an intriguing profile, having suppressed hepatotoxicity and concomitantly retaining AChE inhibition properties. Another interesting class of AChE inhibitors represents Huprines, designed by merging two fragments of the known AChE inhibitors-THA and (-)-huperzine A. Several members of this compound family are more potent human AChE inhibitors than the parent compounds. The most promising are so-called huprines X and Y. Here, we report the design, synthesis, biological evaluation, and in silico studies of 2-methoxyhuprine that amalgamates structural features of 7-MEOTA and huprine Y in one molecule., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A novel series of 6-chlorotacrine-scutellarin hybrids was designed, synthesized and the biological activity as potential anti-Alzheimer's agents was assessed. Their inhibitory activity towards human acetylcholinesterase ( h AChE) and human butyrylcholinesterase ( h BChE), antioxidant activity, ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and hepatotoxic profile were evaluated in vitro. Among these compounds, hybrid K1383 , bearing two methylene tether between two basic scaffolds, was found to be very potent h AChE inhibitor (IC 50 = 1.63 nM). Unfortunately, none of the hybrids displayed any antioxidant activity (EC 50 ≥ 500 μM). Preliminary data also suggests a comparable hepatotoxic profile with 6-Cl-THA (established on a HepG2 cell line). Kinetic studies performed on h AChE with the most active compound in the study, K1383 , pointed out to a mixed, non-competitive enzyme inhibition. These findings were further corroborated by docking studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.