Soft Drugs. XX. Design,Synthesis, and Evaluation of Ultra-Short Acting Beta-Blockers

A new type of ultra-short acting -blocker which might prove advantageous in treating acute arrhythmias was designed, synthesized and investigated. Based on the soft drug inactive metabolite approach, the inactive phenylacetic acid metabolite of both metoprolol and atenolol was reactivated by esterification with sulfur-containing aliphatic alcohols. Since the sulfur-containing moieties are labile to the ubiquitous esterases, the new compounds should be inactivated by a one step enzymatic cleavage back to the inactive phenylacetic acid derivative. Pharmacological and pharmacokinetic profiles of the new compounds were evaluated in rats and rabbits. Isoproterenol-induced tachycardia was inhibited with short-term infusion of each compound. This tachycardia blocking effect rapidly disappeared upon termination of infusion, while -blocking activity was 2–4-fold longer after comparable doses of the short-acting -blocker, esmolol. The rapid recovery from the -receptor blockade is believed due to fast hydrolysis of the soft drugs in the body. This is supported from in vitro results showing the t_l/2 of esmolol is about 10-fold longer than the new soft drugs in rat, rabbit, dog and human blood. Hydrolysis studies in phosphate buffered solutions indicated that the esters are labile to base-catalyzed hydrolysis. However, the relative t_1/2 values measured in biological media compared to phosphate buffered solution clearly support rapid enzymatic cleavage of the soft drugs. Interestingly, one of the soft -blockers, the sulfonyl ester derivative, showed a unique property of exhibiting good -receptor blocking activity without significant hypotensive action.     

P53 mediates ceramide-induced apoptosis in SKN-SH cells

Ceramide induces apoptotic cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner in neuroblastoma SKN-SH cells. Pretreatment with caspase inhibitors blocks cell death, suggesting that a set of caspase activities including caspase 1, as well as caspase 3, are involved in ceramide-induced apoptosis in SKN-SH cells. Treatment with a caspase inhibitor 3 h after ceramide addition did not inhibit cell death, although caspase activity was substantially reduced. Ceramide-induced apoptosis is accompanied by accumulation of p53 followed by an increase of Bax and decrease of Bcl-2 levels. Inhibition of p53 expression with p53 antisense oligonucleotides inhibits apoptosis and prevents the increase in Bax and decrease in Bcl-2. Furthermore, pretreatment with p53 antisense oligonucleotides markedly inhibits the induction of caspase activity. These results suggest that p53 regulates the ratio Bcl-2/Bax and the expression/activation of caspases during ceramide-induced apoptosis in SKN-SH cells. Caspase inhibition did not alter the expression of p53, Bcl-2 and Bax. Thus ceramide-induced reduction in the Bcl-2/Bax ratio, increase in caspase activity, and apoptosis is dependent upon increases in cellular p53 levels which play a critical role in the regulation of apoptotic cell death.     

Repression of interferon-gamma-induced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression in microglia by sodium butyrate is mediated through specific inhibition of ERK signaling pathways

We have reported recently that sodium butyrate suppressed IFN-gamma, but not the LPS-mediated induction of nitric oxide and TNF-alpha in microglia via the specific inhibition of NF-kappaB. In order to further determine the upstream signaling mechanism involved in the IFN-gamma-specific down-regulation of iNOS by sodium butyrate in microglia, this study investigated the effect of sodium butyrate on the MAP kinase activities. Sodium butyrate significantly repressed the phosphorylation of ERK induced by IFN-gamma, but had little effect on that induced by LPS. This suggests that sodium butyrate suppresses the IFN-gamma-induced iNOS expression by inhibiting the ERK to NF-kappaB pathway. In addition, it was found that sodium butyrate suppressed the IFN-gamma-induced interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1) expression via the inhibition of ERK. Therefore, the ERK signaling pathway appears to play a key role in the sodium butyrate-mediated down-regulation of iNOS in the IFN-gamma-stimulated microglia.     

Sodium butyrate suppresses interferon-gamma-, but not lipopolysaccharide-mediated induction of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in microglia

Previously we found that in conscious, freely behaving rats chronic electric stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) caused significant augmentation of natural killer cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) and a large granular lymphocyte (LGL) number more pronounced in the spleen than in the peripheral blood. The LH belongs to the so-called "brain reward system", a collection of the central structures whose activation produce positive emotions. The midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA) is another prominent reward-relevant structure. In the present work, chronic electric stimulation of VTA (constant current 0.1 ms duration cathodal pulses delivered at frequency 50 Hz during 60 min daily session for 14 consecutive days) caused in rats an increase in the spleen but not in the peripheral blood NKCC (chromium release assay) without simultaneous effect on the number of large granular lymphocytes (LGL) (morphological method) and plasma level of prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH), corticosterone (COR), and testosterone (TST). This effect was anatomically specific as no influence of analogous thalamic stimulation on immune and endocrine response was found. The results obtained indicate that both reward-related areas VTA and LH enhance the cell-mediated immune response, represented by natural killer cytotoxicity, especially in the spleen. However, the effect pronounced by VTA is weaker than that of LH, possibly due to additional connections of LH with the hormonal and/or autonomic control systems.     

Presence of human mycoplasma DNA in gastric tissue samples from Korean chronic gastritis patients

We aimed to determine whether mycoplasmas are present in Korean chronic gastritis, and to understand their roles in gastric cancer tumorigenesis, because mycoplasmas resemble Helicobacter pylori in terms of ammonia production and induction of inflammatory cytokines in immune and non-immune cells. The presence and identity of mycoplasmas were assessed by semi-nested PCR and sequencing, and the results were compared with pathologic data. Fifty-six samples collected from Korean chronic gastritis patients were used for this study. Twenty-three (41.1%) were positive for mycoplasmas. Eighteen sequenced samples contained a single human mycoplasma or two mycoplasmas, which were identified as Mycoplasma faucium (13/18), M. fermentans (3/18), M. orale (1/18), M. salivarium (2/18), and M. spermatophilum (1/18). Mycoplasma-infected chronic gastritis samples showed significantly more severe neutrophil infiltration than non-infected samples (P=0.0135). Mycoplasma profiles in the oral cavity (M. salivarium is major) and stomach were different, and the presence of significant proinflammatory responses in mycoplasmapositive patients suggests that the mycoplasmas are not simply contaminants. Further studies are required to understand whether mycoplasmas play a role in gastric tumorigenesis.