Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 3, Issue 4, 2007

Malaria, the most important of the human parasitic diseases, causes about 500 million infections worldwide and over 1 million deaths every year. The search for novel drug candidates against specific parasitic targets is an important goal for antimalarial drug discovery. Recently the antimalarial activity of chalcones has generated great interest. These compounds are small non-chiral molecules with relative high lipop Read More

Our interest has been centered on flavonol glycosides from Croton Menthodorus (Euphorbiaceae) and Aristeguietia discolor (Asteraceae). In this respect, the effect of flavonol glycosides from Croton Menthodorus (Euphorbiaceae) and Aristeguietia discolor (Asteraceae) was investigated on the naloxone-precipitated withdrawal contracture of the acute morphine-dependent guinea-pig ileum in vitro. Furthermore, the effect of the Read More

Botulinum toxin is used as first line therapy for some muscular disorders, and is efficacious in treating hypersecretory and some pain syndromes. When used appropriately it has a good safety profile. It has been evaluated in treating a number of conditions that as yet do not have obvious effective or beneficial treatment. With the greater acceptance and use of botulinum toxin therapy for cosmetic purposes, botulinum toxi Read More

Quantification of structure activity relationships was performed on a series of indazole estrogen analogs, for their relative β estrogenic receptor agonist activity, in order to understand the essential structural requirements for selectivity of indazole estrogen analogs for β-estrogenic receptor over α-estrogenic receptor. The de novo and Hansch approach suggested that the 3rd position of indazole nucleus (R1) is decisive for th Read More

A series of 1,3-thiazolidin-4-ones and metathiazanones were synthesized and evaluated as anti-HIV agents. The results of the in vitro assays showed that some of the synthesized compounds were effective inhibitor of reverse transcriptase enzyme of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) at micromolar concentrations with less cytotoxicity in MT-4 cells as compared to thiazolobenzimidazole (TBZ). Structure-activity r Read More

Recently, there has been great progress in elucidating the biochemistry of the arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism. The abnormal production of leukotrienes (LTs), due to the unbalanced-regulation of synthesizing and catabolizing enzymes, is probably induced by many bioactive substances, including Th2 cell-derived cytokines. Imbalances in these processes may play an important role in allergic reactions and other inflammat Read More

Cancer is a serious worldwide health threat, killing almost seven million people per year. Quinones are an important class of antitumour agents that are activated by tumour hypoxia. Primin (2-methoxy-6-n-pentyl-1,4-benzoquinone), a naturally-occurring product obtained from Primula obconica (Primulaceae) has shown antimicrobial and antitumour properties. The synthesis of the Primin to obtain 3-, 5- or 6-alkyl substituted deriv Read More

A series of all-trans-1-aryl-4-aryl-5-aryl-2,4-pentanediene-1-one (3), a hybridized form of chalcone and combretastatin, was synthesized and evaluated against a panel of cancer cell lines, including B16, murine melanoma; HCT116, colon cancer; A431, human epidermoid carcinoma; and human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVEC). Structure-activity relationships analysis of this series revealed that a 2,5-dihydroxyph Read More

Selective inhibition of Ciliary process enzyme i.e. Carbonic Anhydrase-II is an excellent approach in reducing elevated intraocular pressure, thus treating glaucoma. Due to characteristic physicochemical properties of sulphonamide (Inhibition of Carbonic Anhydrase), they are clinically effective against glaucoma. But the non-specificity of sulphonamide derivatives to isozyme, leads to a range of side effects. Presently, th Read More

Despite accumulating evidence showing that TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) plays a role in vascular biology and that its decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG) is expressed in the vessel wall, modulation of these TNF and TNF-R family members in the early phases of diabetes mellitus has not been investigated. The expression of TRAIL and of OPG was examined both at the mRNA and protein levels in control an Read More

The enzyme GSK-3 plays a central role in cells during the phosphorylation of various key regulatory proteins, and consequently pharmacological inhibitors of this enzyme potentially allow the treatment of diseases that include neurodegenerative and bipolar affective disorders, diabetes, and diseases caused by unicellular parasites. Today there is a huge number of reported empirical structure-activity relationships (SAR) that Read More