Síntese e estudo farmacológico de novos candidatos a protótipos de fármacos de ação dupla úteis ao tratamento da doença de Alzheimer

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive lack of memory and severe loss in cognition, associated with the degradation of cholinergic neurons in many areas of the central system nervous (CSN). Physiologically, the evolution of the disease is related to the extracellular deposition of amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, with severe reduction in concentration of neurotransmitters, mainly acetylcholine (ACh) and installation of a complex neuroinflammatory process. Recently, the onset and progress of DA have been well characterized as a multifactorial process, associated to abnormal metabolization of Aβ, hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, oxidative stress and generation of reactive Oxygen especies, affecting neuronal and mitochondrial function, and a complex inflammatory process of neuronal tissue. These modern overview of DA have been decisive for changes in the design and search for new drugs, considering that multiple directed ligands could be more effective than molecules targeting specific and single targets. In these context, we proposed a new series of donepezil derivatives, designed as novel dual prototype drug candidates, acting as anti-inflammatory and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. These new series, with innovative structural pattern, was planned by molecular hybridization among structural subunits from donepezil, a new series of anti-inflammatory semi-synthetic aryl-hydrazones derived from natural (-)-cassine, and LASSBio-767, a semi-synthetic selective inhibitor of AChE. The results obtained up to the moment, led us to identify LFQM-56 and LFQM-67, as possible candidates to drugs with dual activity, showing both anticholinesterase and anti-inflammatory properties. On the other hand, LFQM-73 showed excellent anti-inflammatory profile and LFQM-57, LFQM-75 and LFQM-88 showed promise acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities.