Three mononuclear Cu (II) complexes based on p-tolylmethanamine Schiff bases: In-vitro cytotoxicity, DNA binding ability, nuclease activity and antibacterial studies

An overview: metal-based inhibitors of urease

Urease is a kind of nickel-dependent metalloenzyme, which exists in the biological world widely, and can catalyse the hydrolysis of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide to provide a nitrogen source for organisms. Urease has important uses in agriculture and medicine because it can catalyse the production of ammonia. Therefore, in this review, metal-based inhibitors of urease will be summarised according to different transition metal ions. Including the urease inhibition, structure-activity relationship, and molecular docking. Importantly, among these reviewed effective urease inhibitors, most of copper metal complexes exhibited stronger urease inhibition with IC50 values ranging from 0.46 μM to 41.1 μM. Significantly, the collected comprehensive information looks forward to providing rational guidance and effective strategies for the development of novel, potent, and safe metal-based urease inhibitors, which are better for practical applications in the future.

Synthesis, DNA binding, antibacterial and anticancer properties of two novel water-soluble copper(II) complexes containing gluconate

In this paper, two new Cu(II) complexes, [Cu(Gluc)(HPB)(H₂O)]Gluc (CuG1) and [Cu(Gluc)(HPBC)(H₂O)]Gluc (CuG2) (where HPB = 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole, HPBC = 5-chloro-2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole, Gluc = d-Gluconic acid), with good water solubility were synthesized and characterized. These complexes exhibited a five-coordinated tetragonal pyramidal geometry. The DNA binding and cleavage properties of the complexes were investigated using multi-spectroscopy, viscosity measurement, molecular docking and gel electrophoresis analysis methods. The results showed that the complexes could interact with DNA by insertion and groove binding, and cleave CT-DNA through a singlet oxygen-dependent pathway in the presence of ascorbic acid. The studies on antibacterial and anticancer activities in vitro demonstrated that both complexes had good inhibitory activity against three Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes) and one Gram-negative bacterium (Escherichia coli) and good cytotoxic activity toward the tested cancer cells (A549, HeLa and SGC-7901). CuG2 showed higher antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities than CuG1, which was consistent with their binding strength and cleavage ability to DNA, indicating that their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities may be related to the DNA interaction. Moreover, the cell-based mechanism studies have indicated that CuG1 and CuG2 could arrest the cell cycle at G2/M phase, elevate the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). The results showed that the complexes could induce apoptosis through DNA-damaged and ROS-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction pathways. Finally, the in vivo antitumor study revealed that CuG2 inhibited tumor growth by 50.44%, which is better than that of cisplatin (40.94%).