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Marine pharmacology in 2000: marine compounds with antibacterial, anticoagulant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antiplatelet, antituberculosis, and antiviral activities; affecting the cardiovascular, immune, and nervous systems and other miscellaneous mechanisms of action.

During 2000 research on the pharmacology of marine chemicals involved investigators from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Phillipines, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. This current review, a sequel to the authors' 1998 and 1999 reviews, classifies 68 peer-reviewed articles on the basis of the reported preclinical pharmacologic properties of marine chemicals derived from a diverse group of marine animals, algae, fungi, and bacteria. Antibacterial, anticoagulant, antifungal, antimalarial, antiplatelet, antituberculosis, or antiviral activity was reported for 35 marine chemicals. An additional 20 marine compounds were shown to have significant effects on the cardiovascular and nervous system, and to possess anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressant properties. Finally, 23 marine compounds were reported to act on a variety of molecular targets and thus could potentially contribute to several pharmacologic classes. Thus, as in 1998 and 1999, during 2000 pharmacologic research with marine chemicals continued to contribute potentially novel chemical leads to the ongoing global search for therapeutic agents in the treatment of multiple disease categories.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Ocular effects and safety of antimalarial agents.

The clinical experiences with 1,500 patients receiving chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine over a 15-year period are reviewed. Forty-six patients with confirmed irreversible, bilateral, early chloroquine retinopathy have been followed prospectively since 1980. Patients presenting with normal color vision and relative paracentral scotomas appear not to progress over short-term follow-up of five years. Retinopathy in patients presenting with less than 20/20 vision, abnormal color vision, and positive fluorescein angiography may progress even if treatment with the medication is discontinued. The Amsler grid is an effective method of screening patients taking antimalarial agents for early relative paracentral scotomas. Color vision testing and fluorescein angiography are useful in elderly patients with age-related macular disease when visual field testing is unreliable.

Antimalarials↗

Protonophoric effects of antimalarial drugs and alkylamines in Escherichia coli membranes.

Inside-out vesicles of Escherichia coli whose lumen was acidified by substrate oxidation, were used to study the mode of pH gradient dissipation by quinoline-containing antimalarial drugs and alkylamines. The pH was dissipated by micromolar drug concentrations, the dibasic chloroquine being most potent, followed by the monobasic mefloquine, quinine and the dibasic 7H-quinoline. The time dependence of pH dissipation as a function of membrane potential suggests that the monoprotonated forms of the drugs are able to cross the bacterial membrane. Alkylamines were able to dissipate the pH gradient in the 0.01-5 mM range, their rank order of potency being related to their hydrophobicity. Tertiary amines were less effective than less hydrophobic primary primary amines, implying an effect of molecular volume of their diffusion across the membrane. Both sets of results suggest that amphiphilic weak bases can cross membranes in their free-base form, become protonated in an acid environment and diffuse in this form along their concentration gradient and aided by the membrane potential, thereby dissipating the pH gradient.

Amines↗

Effects of antimalarial drugs on several rat-liver lysosomal enzymes involved in phosphatidylethanolamine catabolism.

The effects of three cationic amphiphilic antimalarial drugs (chloroquine, mepacrine and primaquine) on the intralysosomal catabolism of phosphatidylethanolamine and several of its metabolites were studied with rat-liver lysosomes which had been isolated from animals previously treated with Triton WR-1339. The activities of each of the various enzymes involved in the main pathways of intralysosomal phosphatidylethanolamine degradation (Kunze, H., Hesse, B. and Bohn, E. (1982) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 711, 10-18) exhibited almost identical inhibitory sensitivities towards mepacrine and primaquine. In contrast, chloroquine inhibited the activities of the various enzymes to different extents, lysophospholipid acylhydrolase (EC 3.1.1.5) being the most sensitive enzyme, followed by phospholipase A1 (EC 3.1.1.32) and monoacylglycerol lipase, and eventually lysophospholipid monoacylglycerol hydrolase as the least sensitive enzyme. The relative inhibitory potencies towards phospholipase A1 activity of chloroquine were increased with increasing pH, and the mode of inhibition was competitive. In contrast, the inhibitory potencies towards monoacylglycerol lipase activity of chloroquine increased only up to pH 5 but decreased above this value, and the mode of inhibition was noncompetitive.

Animals↗

Effects of antimalarial drugs on phospholipase A and lysophospholipase activities in plasma membrane, mitochondrial, microsomal and cytosolic subcellular fractions of rat liver.

Activities of membrane-associated phospholipases A1 and A2, and membrane-associated as well as soluble lysophospholipases were measured in different subcellular fractions of rat liver, using suspensions of stereospecifically labelled radioactive phospholipids as substrates. Plasma membranes and endoplasmic reticulum were shown to contain phospholipase A1 and lysophospholipase activities, both of which could be stimulated by Ca2+, mitochondria Ca2+-dependent phospholipase A2 and cytosol Ca2+-independent lysophospholipase activities. Each of these lipolytic enzymes could be inhibited by antimalarial drugs (chloroquine, mepacrine, primaquine) at concentrations above 1 x 10(-4) M. Inhibition of the alkaline cytosolic lysophospholipase by these drugs was noncompetitive with respect to the substrate, and the inhibitory potency increased, when the pH was raised.

Animals↗

Effects of several antimalarials and phenothiazine compounds on the formation of coat structure from clathrin.

We have evaluated the effects of two phenothiazine and several antimalarial drugs on the rates of polymerization of 8S clathrin molecules to 300S coat structures. Most of the drugs investigated have been shown in other studies to inhibit receptor-mediated endocytosis through the coated pit regions of plasma membranes. The two types of drugs were found to accelerate the polymerization rate without having much effect on the size distribution of the polymer species. The activities of the drugs appear to depend on the dibasic moiety and a large, hydrophobic aromatic ring in their structures.

Animals↗

Antimalarial activity of diethyldithiocarbamate. Potentiation by copper.

The antimalarial activity of diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) in vitro was potentiated by subtoxic concentrations of copper. DDC was also more potent in the presence of an intracellular source of copper, such as when parasites were grown in superoxide dismutase (SOD)-loaded erythrocytes. These data suggest that DDC forms a complex with copper, either intracellularly or extracellularly, which is toxic to malarial parasites. The exact cause of this toxicity is not known, but may be due to a membrane effect, since DDC and copper, in combination, exert a potent lytic effect on normal human erythrocytes.

Animals↗

Site of action of the antimalarial hydroxynaphthoquinone, 2-[trans-4-(4'-chlorophenyl) cyclohexyl]-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (566C80).

The site of action of the antimalarial compound 2-[trans-4-(4'-chlorophenyl) cyclohexyl]-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (566C80), would appear to be the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Studies reported herein have demonstrated 566C80 to be a potent and selective mitochondrial inhibitor with mitochondria isolated from Plasmodium falciparum and P. yoelii. Selective assay of individual respiratory chain complexes has shown the primary site of action of 566C80 to be the cytochrome bc1 complex (Complex III): supportive evidence from difference spectroscopy indicates the site of inhibition to lie between cytochromes b and c1 of this complex. Using [14C]566C80, evidence is presented which suggests that 566C80 may become irreversibly bound to a polypeptide with an approximate molecular mass of 11,500 Da.

Animals↗

Antimalarial activity of orotate analogs that inhibit dihydroorotase and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase.

Dihydroorotase and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, two enzymes of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway, were purified from Plasmodium berghei to apparent homogeneity. Orotate and a series of 5-substituted derivatives were found to inhibit competitively the purified enzymes from the malaria parasite. The order of effectiveness as inhibitors on pyrimidine ring cleavage reaction for dihydroorotase was 5-fluoro orotate greater than 5-amino orotate, 5-methyl orotate greater than orotate greater than 5-bromo orotate greater than 5-iodo orotate with Ki values of 65, 142, 166, 860, 2200 and greater than 3500 microM, respectively. 5-Fluoro orotate and orotate were the most effective inhibitors for dihydroorotate dehydrogenase. In vitro, 5-fluoro orotate and 5-amino orotate caused 50% inhibition of the growth of P. falciparum at concentrations of 10 nM and 1 microM, respectively. In mice infected with P. berghei, these two orotate analogs at a dose of 25 mg/kg body weight eliminated parasitemia after a 4-day treatment, an effect comparable to that of the same dose of chloroquine. The infected mice treated with 5-fluoro orotate at a lower dose of 2.5 mg/kg had a 95% reduction in parasitemia. The effects of the more potent compounds tested in combination with inhibitors of other enzymes of this pathway on P. falciparum in vitro and P. berghei in vivo are currently under investigation. These results suggest that the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway in the malarial parasite may be a target for the design of antimalarial drugs.

Animals↗

Quinoline-containing antimalarials--mode of action, drug resistance and its reversal. An update with unresolved puzzles.

Malaria constitutes one of the major health threats in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Yet, few advances were made in recent years in revealing the mode of action of the common and most economically affordable antimalarial drugs, the schizontocidal 4-aminoquinolines. Data presented indubitably repudiate the previous notions that these drugs act by either halting the feeding of the parasite on its host erythrocyte cytosol or repressing nucleic acid synthesis due to intercalation into the parasite's DNA. A novel target for drugs is outlined, i.e. they are shown to inhibit in vitro the release of iron from acidified host cell cytosol, consisting mostly of hemoglobin, a process that could provide this trace element to the parasite. Resistance to quinoline-containing drugs is the principal reason for the present resurgence of malaria. Drug-resistant parasites accumulate less of these weak base-like drugs in the acidic digestive vacuoles. A kinetic model is presented, indicating that diminishing drug accumulation is due to decreased vacuolar proton pump activity and is not a result of a putative multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pump. Findings to date on the molecular biology of parasite mdr genes are reviewed. These indicate no correlation between gene expression or mutations and phenotypic drug resistance. Reversal of parasite drug resistance by relevant compounds in MDR cancer cells seems to involve mechanism(s) different from the inhibition of the MDR pump in cancer cells.

Animals↗

Cytochrome P450 2C9 is responsible for hydroxylation of the naphthoquinone antimalarial drug 58C80 in human liver.

2-(4-t-Butylcyclohexyl)-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (58C80) is an experimental naphthoquinone antimalarial drug which undergoes extensive alky hydroxylation in man. By means of purification, N-terminal amino acid sequencing and inhibition by antibodies and sulfaphenazole, we have identified the form of cytochrome P450 primarily responsible for 58C80 hydroxylation in human liver, P450hB20-27, to be a member of the P450 2C9 subfamily. P450hB20-27 is a low-spin haemoprotein with molecular mass 54 kDa. 58C80 hydroxylation in human liver microsomes was dependent on either NADPH or NADH, with the activity supported by NADH being 35% of that supported by NADPH. With purified P450hB20-27 cytochrome b5 stimulated the NADH-dependent activity 8-fold but inhibited the NADPH-dependent activity by 30%. 58C80 is a novel substrate structure for human P450 2C and these results significantly broaden the range of drugs which have been directly shown (i.e. using a purified enzyme as opposed to expressed cDNA) to be metabolized by human P450 2C forms that are incontrovertibly expressed in human liver in vivo.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Hydroxylation of the antimalarial drug 58C80 by CYP2C9 in human liver microsomes: comparison with mephenytoin and tolbutamide hydroxylations.

58C80 [2-(4-t-butylcyclohexyl)-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone] is an experimental naphthoquinone antimalarial drug which undergoes extensive alkyl hydroxylation to a single t-butylhydroxy metabolite in man in vivo and also in human liver microsomes, where this is catalysed primarily by a 54 kDa CYP2C9 form of cytochrome P450, P450hB20-27. Microsomal 58C80 hydroxylation (58OH) activity showed a marked inter-individual variation in a bank of 39 individual human livers but did not correlate with the immunoquantified levels of either of two microsomal proteins (54 and 50 kDa, respectively) recognised by a polyclonal antibody against CYP2C9 (P450hB20-27). Neither 58OH activity nor the concentrations of the CYP2C9-immunorelated proteins showed any relationship with the individuals' age, sex, cigarette smoking habit, alcohol consumption or clinical drug treatment, including long term antiepileptic therapy with phenobarbitone or phenytoin. 58OH activity did not correlate with either TBOH (tolbutamide hydroxylation) or MPOH (S-mephenytoin 4'-hydroxylation) activities, while 58C80 inhibited both TBOH and MPOH in human liver microsomes non-competitively (Ki = 30 and 175 microM for TBOH and MPOH, respectively). 58C80 could be a useful model substrate for measuring human CYP2C activity in vitro.

Antimalarials↗

Plasmodium berghei: the antimalarial action of artemisinin and sodium artelinate in vivo and in vitro, studied by flow cytometry.

Sodium artelinate, a new water-soluble and relatively stable derivative of artemisinin, and its parent compound were tested for their antimalarial action. Experiments were done in vitro with synchronous cultures of Plasmodium berghei. The inhibition of growth by different concentrations of sodium artelinate and artemisinin was determined using flow cytometry. In vivo testing was done by subcutaneous injection of each drug in mice infected with P. berghei. Sodium artelinate, being stable in aqueous solution, was also administered orally to infected mice by its addition to their drinking water. Comparison of the parent compound and the derivative showed that sodium artelinate was slightly less active than artemisinin both in culture and in vivo. However, after oral administration of sodium artelinate, parasites were cleared from the blood with one-half to one-tenth of the dose used in the experiments with subcutaneous injection. The number of mice which were cured by oral administration of sodium artelinate was greater than after subcutaneous injection, even with a total oral dose lower than the injected dose.

Administration, Oral↗

Plasmodium berghei: quantitation of in vitro effects of antimalarial drugs on exoerythrocytic development by a ribosomal RNA probe.

A stage-specific ribosomal RNA probe has been used to quantitate exoerythrocytic development of Plasmodium berghei in primary cultures of mouse hepatocytes. Parasite rRNA could be detected as soon as 6 hr after sporozoite invasion and was increased during schizogony to a maximum at 48 hr, when mature schizonts were identified by microscopy. As few as 10 exoerythrocytic schizonts could be detected by filter blot hybridization, followed by autoradiography and liquid scintillation counting. By hybridizing the culture rRNA samples with either parasite-specific or universal rRNA probes, the in vitro tissue schizonticidal activity and hepatotoxicity of primaquine, two of its analogues, and pyrimethamine, could be assessed. After a 48-hr exposure of the culture to serial dilutions of each drug, a quantitative relationship was demonstrated between the decrease of the parasite rRNA and the increase of the drug concentrations. No significant parasite-specific rRNA could be detected at the concentration achieving complete inhibition of schizont formation but causing no cytotoxic effects on host hepatocytes. In contrast to microscopic-based assays, this molecular approach provides an objective and quantitative in vitro method for rapid screening and evaluation of tissue schizonticidal antimalarials.

Aminoquinolines↗

Antibacterial and antimalarial properties of peptides that are cecropin-melittin hybrids.

Solid phase synthesis was used to produce 5 hybrid peptides containing sequences from the antibacterial peptide, cecropin A, and from the bee venom toxin, melittin. Four of these chimeric peptides showed good antibacterial activity against representative Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial species. The best hybrid, cecropin A(1-13)-melittin(1-13) was 100-fold more active than cecropin A against Staphylococcus aureus. It was also a 10-fold better antimalarial agent than cecropin B or magainin 2. Sheep red cells were lysed by melittin at low concentrations, but not by the hybrid molecules, even at 50 times higher concentrations.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Antimalarial properties of soy-bean fat emulsions.

Intralipid and Ivelip are commercial preparations of soy-bean lipid extracts used for intravenous supplementation of lipids in various clinical conditions. They were found to inhibit the growth of Plasmodium falciparum in culture with an IC50 of 8.07 +/- 2.13 and 13.32 +/- 2.05 mg.ml-1, respectively. Intralipid rapidly and efficiently inhibited nucleic acid synthesis in cultured P. falciparum, exhibiting full inhibitory activity in less than 2 h. Ivelip injected intraperitoneally, was found by the 4-day suppressive test to be active in vivo against P. vinckei petteri within the normal recommended regimen for dietary lipid supply (0.5-4 g.kg-1), but it was impossible to obtain a radical cure even with very high doses (6.4 g.kg-1). Ivelip was less effective against P. berghei and P. yoelii nigeriensis. As Ivelip showed no interference with the antimalarial activity of chloroquine, it could be considered for use in the treatment of severe human malaria in association with 4-aminoquinolines to expedite the clearance of parasites.

Animals↗

Biochemical mechanism of the antimalarial activity of Azadirachta indica leaf extract.

The antimalarial herb, Azadirachta indica, acts by redox perturbation in the form of the imposition of substantial oxidant stress during malarial infection. The aqueous leaf extract substantially inhibited NADPH cytochrome C(P-450) reductase activity in rats with a significant increase in the microsomal protein. The aniline hydroxylase activity and the phenobarbitone metabolism were also enhanced. The flavonoids quercetin-3-rhamnoside and quercetin-3-rutinoside (rutin) were isolated as the major constituents of the extract. The significance of these findings in clinical malaria chemotherapy is discussed.

Aniline Hydroxylase↗

Antimalarial sesquiterpenes from tubers of Cyperus rotundus: structure of 10,12-peroxycalamenene, a sesquiterpene endoperoxide.

Activity-guided investigation of Cyperus rotundus tubers led to the isolation of patchoulenone, caryophyllene alpha-oxide, 10,12-peroxycalamenene and 4,7-dimethyl-1-tetralone. The antimalarial activities of these compounds are in the range of EC50 10(-4)-10(-6) M, with the novel endoperoxide sesquiterpene, 10,12-peroxycalamenene, exhibiting the strongest effect at EC50 2.33 x 10(-6) M.

Animals↗