sja-6017 and Reperfusion-Injury

We previously reported a potent calpain inhibitor 1 (SJA6017, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-l-valyl-l-leucinal), which displayed relatively low oral bioavailability (BA). Replacing the metabolically labile aldehyde moiety of 1with more chemically stable warheads, such as a cyclic hemiacetal, hydrazone, and alpha-ketoamide, provided the inhibitors with improved in vitro metabolic stability. Cyclic hemiacetal 2 was the most stable of these compounds. The optimization of 2 led to hemiacetal 8 (SNJ-1715) which exhibited high potency, good aqueous solubility, excellent oral BA, and prolonged plasma half-life in rats. Furthermore, 8 showed neuroprotective efficacy via oral administration in a rat retinal ischemia model.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Animals; Calpain; Cell Line; Dipeptides; Drug Stability; Half-Life; Humans; Ischemia; Male; Neuroprotective Agents; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reperfusion Injury; Retinal Diseases; Retinal Ganglion Cells; Solubility; Stereoisomerism; Structure-Activity Relationship; Thiourea

Much evidence has accumulated suggesting that activation of calpain causes neuronal cell death in ischemic brain. However, little is known about the involvement of calpain in retinal cell death in ischemic injury. Thus, the purpose of present study was to investigate the involvement of calpain isoforms (m- and mu-calpain) in ischemia-reperfusion injury in retina from rat.. Retinal ischemia was produced by occlusion of the central retinal artery for one hour, and this was followed by reperfusion for seven days. Calpain mRNAs, calpain activities, total calcium content and proteolysis of alpha-spectrin were determined in retina. Effect of a calpain inhibitor SJA6017 was histologically tested in retinal injury after ischemia-reperfusion.. Following retinal ischemia, most of cells in the ganglion cell layer were sloughed off by day 1 after reperfusion, followed by loss of cells in the inner plexiform layer on day 3 and loss of cells in the inner nuclear layer by day 5. These morphologic changes were accompanied by several presumptive biochemical indicators of calpain activation: increased calcium, proteolysis of alpha-spectrin (a sensitive substrate for calpains), decreased caseinolytic activity for both calpains (suggesting calpain activation followed by autolytic degradation), increased mRNA levels for mu-calpain and calpastatin - the endogenous inhibitor of calpains - and decreased mRNA levels for mu-calpain. Moreover, the calpain inhibitor SJA6017 protected the reduction of cell density in the ganglion cell layer after ischemia-reperfusion.. These results suggest that calpain isoforms may play an important role in neuronal cell death induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat.

Topics: Animals; Calcium; Calpain; Cell Count; Cell Death; Dipeptides; Enzyme Inhibitors; Ischemia; Male; Peptide Hydrolases; Protein Isoforms; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reperfusion Injury; Retinal Ganglion Cells; Retinal Vessels; RNA, Messenger; Spectrin