Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel O-carbamoyl ferulamide derivatives as multi-target-directed ligands for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Eur J Med Chem. 2020 May 15:194:112265. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112265. Epub 2020 Mar 24.

Abstract

A novel series of O-carbamoyl ferulamide derivatives were designed by multitarget-directed ligands (MTDLs) strategy, the derivatives were synthesized and evaluated to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). In vitro biological evaluation demonstrated that compound 4f was the best pseudo-irreversible hBChE (human butyrylcholinesterase) inhibitor with an IC50 value of 0.97 μM 4f was a potent selective MAO-B (monoamine oxidase-B) inhibitor (IC50 = 5.3 μM), and could inhibit (58.2%) and disaggregate (43.3%) self-mediated Aβ aggregation. 4f also could reduce the levels of pathological tau and APP clearance, and displayed a wide safe range hepatotoxicity on LO2 cells. The in vivo studies revealed that 4f exhibited fascinating dyskinesia recovery rate and response efficiency on AlCl3-mediated zebrafish, and demonstrated significant protective effect on vascular injury caused by Aβ1-40. PET-CT imaging demonstrated that [11C]4f exhibited high BBB penetration (especially could reach to hippocampus and striatum of brain) and had a fast brain uptake after intravenous bolus injection. Furthermore, compound 4f could improve scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment. Further, the metabolism in vitro of 4f was also investigated, and presented 3 metabolites in rat liver microsome metabolism, 4 metabolites in human liver microsome, and 4 metabolites in rat intestinal flora, providing previous data for the preclinical study. Therefore, these results implied that compound 4f was an advanced multi-function agent and deserved further preclinical study against mild-to-serve Alzheimer's disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Metabolism in vitro; Multi-function agents; O-carbamoyl ferulamide derivatives; PET-CT imaging; Scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment; Zebrafish AD.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Amides / chemical synthesis
  • Amides / chemistry
  • Amides / pharmacology*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Design*
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred Strains
  • Microsomes, Liver / chemistry
  • Microsomes, Liver / metabolism
  • Molecular Structure
  • Peptide Fragments / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography
  • Protein Aggregates / drug effects
  • Rats
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Zebrafish

Substances

  • Amides
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Ligands
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Protein Aggregates
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-40)