Cytotoxic activities of some mono and bis Mannich bases derived from acetophenone in brine shrimp bioassay

Some mono Mannich bases (1-phenyl-3-amino-1-propanone salts) and bis Mannich bases (1-phenyl-3-amino-2-amino-methyl-1-propanone salts) derived from acetophenone and a few representative quaternary derivatives were synthesised and their cytotoxicity was tested using the brine shrimp bioassay. This assay may serve as an intermediate test before further in vivo animal experiments in large scale, since brine shrimp nauplii as whole organisms were used in this test. Mono Mannich bases were generally more cytotoxic than their corresponding bis Mannich bases. Mannich bases synthesised were cytotoxic in both brine shrimp bioassay in this study and cell culture tests using Jurkat and Renca cells in a previous study. However, the order of the cytotoxic potency of the compounds were reverse, which may result from faster deamination of bis derivatives than optimal level, and different species and test media used in the two test systems. Faster deamination of bis derivatives might have led to elimination of active metabolites before reaching its target. The cytotoxicity of the compounds might have been altered by amino acids and proteins present in cell culture medium but not in sea water used in brine shrimp bioassay affecting their transport through the cell membrane and metabolism in the cell by binding with the compounds. With higher cytotoxic activity compared with 5-fluorouracil (CAS 51-21-8) in brine shrimp bioassay, mono Mannich base 1 and its quaternary derivative 4 and quaternary bis derivative 8 seem to be candidate compounds for further drug design.