Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease that affects many older people adversely. AD has been putting a huge socioeconomic burden on the healthcare systems of many developed countries with aging populations. The need for new therapies that can halt or reverse the progression of the disease is now extremely great. A research approach in the finding new treatment for AD that has attracted much interest from scientists for a long time is the reestablishment of cholinergic transmission through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Naringenin is a flavonoid with the potential inhibitory activity against AChE. From naringenin, many other flavonoid derivatives, such as flavanones and chalcones, can be synthesized. In this study, by applying the Williamson method, nine flavonoid derivatives were synthesized, including four flavanones and five chalcones. The evaluation of AChE inhibitory activity by the Ellman method showed that there were four substances (2, 4, 5, and 7) with relatively good biological activities (IC50 < 100 μM), and these biological activities were better than that of naringenin. The molecular docking revealed that strong interactions with amino acid residue Ser200 of the catalytic triad and those of the peripheral region of the enzyme were crucial for strong effects against AChE. Compound 7 had the strongest AChE inhibitory activity (IC50 13.0 ± 1.9 μM). This substance could be used for further studies.
阿尔茨海默病(AD)是一种不可逆的神经退行性疾病,严重影响许多老年人。随着人口老龄化,AD已经给许多发达国家的医疗保健系统带来了巨大的社会经济负担。现在非常需要新的治疗方法来阻止或逆转疾病的进展。一种在寻找AD新治疗方法上引起科学家长期关注的研究方法是通过抑制乙酰胆碱酯酶(AChE)来重新建立胆碱能传递。柚皮素是一种具有潜在抑制AChE活性的类黄酮。从柚皮素中可以合成许多其他类黄酮衍生物,如类黄酮和香豆素。本研究采用Williamson方法合成了九种类黄酮衍生物,包括四种类黄酮和五种香豆素。通过Ellman方法评估AChE抑制活性,发现有四种物质(2、4、5和7)具有相对较好的生物活性(IC50 <100μM),这些生物活性比柚皮素更好。分子对接揭示了与催化三联体氨基酸残基Ser200和酶的周围区域的强相互作用对于强烈的AChE抑制效果至关重要。化合物7具有最强的AChE抑制活性(IC50 13.0 ± 1.9μM)。这种物质可以用于进一步的研究。