Neto, Denise Cristian Ferreira; Diz, Joyce Sobreiro Francisco; Guimarães, Sulayne Janayna Araújo; Dos Santos, Eduardo Mendes; Nascimento, Maria do Desterro Soares Brandão; de Azevedo-Santos, Ana Paula Silva; Franca, Tanos Celmar Costa; Laplante, Steven 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2835-5789; do Nascimento, Claudia Jorge et Lima, Josélia Alencar
(2025).
Guanylhydrazone and semicarbazone derivatives as potential prototypes for the design of cholinesterase inhibitors against Alzheimer's disease: biological evaluation and molecular modeling studies
Chemico Biological Interactions
, vol. 415
, nº 111515.
pp. 1-11.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2025.111515.
Résumé
Despite being present in many drugs, guanylhydrazones and semicarbazones are two functional groups that have been little investigated as potential therapeutic strategies for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). For this reason, we initiated the synthesis and evaluation of these compounds as potential anticholinesterase agents, aiming to offer new alternatives for drug development against AD. In the severe phase of AD butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) becomes the main enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of acetylcholine (ACh). Therefore, in this project, we present the results of BChE inhibitory activity, enzyme kinetics, cytotoxicity, and molecular modeling studies for three guanylhydrazone and two semicarbazone derivatives that were previously synthesized and evaluated as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors. Among the compounds tested, guanylhydrazones (1, 2, and 3) showed inhibitory activity against BChE, exhibiting a mixed non-competitive inhibition profile. Specifically, compound 2 (phenanthrenequinone) demonstrated superior inhibitory potency with an IC(50) of 0.68 μM, compared to compound 1 (acridinone) with an IC(50) of 3.87 μM, and compound 3 (benzodioxole) with an IC(50) of 101.7 μM. In contrast, semicarbazones (4 and 5) showed no BChE inhibition up to the highest concentration tested (300 μM). Importantly, all five compounds were found to be non-cytotoxic. Our results suggest that these compounds have potential as drug prototypes targeting different phases of AD. Compounds 3, 4, and 5 may be more effective in the early phase, when AChE activity remains high; compound 1 could be useful in the intermediate phase; and compound 2 appears particularly promising for the severe phase, when BChE plays a more dominant role.
| Type de document: | Article |
|---|---|
| Informations complémentaires: | This work was supported by the Brazilian Funding agencies: Con- selho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnol´ogico (CNPq – Grant no: 305432/2022-2– T.C.C.F), Fundaç˜ao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo `a Pesquisa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) – Grant no: 02/202.961/2017 – T.C.C.F.), |
| Mots-clés libres: | Alzheimer's disease; Butyrylcholinesterase; Guanylhydrazones; N9 microglial cell line; Semicarbazones |
| Centre: | Centre INRS-Institut Armand Frappier |
| Date de dépôt: | 07 juill. 2025 18:55 |
| Dernière modification: | 07 juill. 2025 18:55 |
| URI: | https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/16497 |
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