Structural analogues of the natural products magnolol and honokiol as potent allosteric potentiators of GABA(A) receptors.

Biphenylic compounds related to the natural products magnolol and 4'-O-methylhonokiol were synthesized, evaluated and optimized as positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of GABA(A) receptors. The most efficacious compounds were the magnolol analog 5-ethyl-5'-hexylbiphenyl-2,2'-diol (45) and the honokiol analogs 4'-methoxy-5-propylbiphenyl-2-ol (61), 5-butyl-4'-methoxybiphenyl-2-ol (62) and 5-hexyl-4'-methoxybiphenyl-2-ol (64), which showed a most powerful potentiation of GABA-induced currents (up to 20-fold at a GABA concentration of 3μM). They were found not to interfere with the allosteric sites occupied by known allosteric modulators, such as benzodiazepines and N-arachidonoylglycerol. These new PAMs will be useful as pharmacological tools and may have therapeutic potential for mono-therapy, or in combination, for example, with GABA(A) receptor agonists.

厚朴中α-葡萄糖苷酶抑制活性成分研究

本论文由三章组成。 第一章是关于厚朴中具有α-葡萄糖苷酶抑制活性成分的研究。凹叶厚朴的乙醇提取物显示了较强的α-葡萄糖苷酶抑制活性。为了确定其活性成分，在活性测试的指导下，通过溶剂萃取、树脂吸附和反复硅胶柱层析等分离方法从凹叶厚朴乙醇提取物中分离得到6 个生物碱，并用质谱和核磁共振等波谱方法分别鉴定为：木兰箭毒碱，木兰花碱，鹅掌楸碱，蕃荔枝碱，罗默碱和Lysicamine。应用小肠α-葡萄糖苷酶模型测定了它们对α-葡萄糖苷酶的抑制作用。其中，番荔枝碱和木兰箭毒碱对α-葡萄糖苷酶相对抑制活性最好，分别为60%和62%；其它四个生物碱成分对α-葡萄糖苷酶的抑制活性几乎相当，鹅掌楸碱为46%，罗默碱为51%，Lysicamine 为49%，木兰花碱为51%。 第二章报道了厚朴酚的衍生物及其对α-葡萄糖苷酶的抑制活性。根据糖苷酶抑制剂的结构特点，设计合成了一系列厚朴酚的衍生物。厚朴酚经过Mannich 反应和环氧化及开环反应制备了一系列衍生物，经活性测试发现衍生物活性与取代基关系较大，其中5,5′-diallyl-3-((bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino)methyl)biphenyl-2,2′-diol 的抑制活性最高，为72%。 第三章综述了厚朴的化学成分及药理活性两个方面的研究进展。 The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter is about the study on the constituents with α-glycosidase inhibitory activity from Magnolia officinalis. The EtOH extracts of M. officinalis Rehd. et Wils showed good inhibitory activity against α-Glucosidase. In order to determine the active compounds, bio-assay was used to guide the isolation. Six known alkaloids were isolated by solvent extraction and repeated silica gel column chromatography, and their structures were identified as liriodenine, anonaine, roemerine, lysicamine, magnoflorine and magnocurarine by spectroscopic methods. The inhibitory activity against α-Glucosidase of these alkaloids was measured with alvine screening model of α-glucosidase. Among them, lysicamine and liriodenine have the best inhibitory activity at 60% and 62%, respectively. The other four alkaloids have close inhibitory activity, from 46% to 51%. The second chapter is about the derivation of magnolol and the inhibitory a ctivity of the derivatives. Seven derivatives of magnolol were prepared by Manni-ch reaction, epoxidation followed by ring-opening reaction. Biological activity as say indicated the inhibitory activity was related to substituting groups. Among them, 5,5′-diallyl-3-((bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino)methyl)biphenyl-2,2′-diol had the highest activity at 72%. The third chapter is a review on the progress of M. officinalis including chemical constituents and pharmacological activity.

Moderate concentrations of 4-O-methylhonokiol potentiate GABAA receptor currents stronger than honokiol

BACKGROUND Magnolia bark preparations from Magnolia officinalis of Asian medicinal systems are known for their muscle relaxant effect and anticonvulsant activity. These CNS related effects are ascribed to the presence of the biphenyl-type neolignans honokiol and magnolol that exert a potentiating effect on GABAA receptors. 4-O-methylhonokiol isolated from seeds of the North-American M. grandiflora was compared to honokiol for its activity to potentiate GABAA receptors and its GABAA receptor subtype-specificity was established. METHODS Different recombinant GABAA receptors were functionally expressed in Xenopus oocytes and electrophysiological techniques were used determine to their modulation by 4-O-methylhonokiol. RESULTS 3μM 4-O-methylhonokiol is shown here to potentiate responses of the α₁β₂γ₂ GABAA receptor about 20-fold stronger than the same concentration of honokiol. In the present study potentiation by 4-O-methylhonokiol is also detailed for 12 GABAA receptor subtypes to assess GABAA receptor subunits that are responsible for the potentiating effect. CONCLUSION The much higher potentiation of GABAA receptors at identical concentrations of 4-O-methylhonokiol as compared to honokiol parallels previous observations made in other systems of potentiated pharmacological activity of 4-O-methylhonokiol over honokiol. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE The results point to the use of 4-O-methylhonokiol as a lead for GABAA receptor potentiation and corroborate the use of M. grandiflora seeds against convulsions in Mexican folk medicine.