Changes in coumarin kinetics and subcellular localization of CYP2E1 contribute to bile duct damage and reduce hepatocellular damage after repeated administration of coumarin in rats

Synthesis and Antifungal Activity of Coumarin Derivatives Containing Hydrazone Moiety

Plant disease control mainly relies on pesticides. In this study, a series of coumarin derivatives containing hydrazone moiety were designed and synthesized. The synthesized compounds were characterized and used to evaluate the antifungal activity against four pathogens, Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Alternaria alternata. The results showed that the inhibition rate of some compounds at 100 μg/mL in 96 hours reached around 70 % against A. alternata, higher than that of the positive control. The corresponding EC50 values were found at around 30 μg/mL. Finally, the compound 3 b was screened out with the lowest EC50 value (19.49 μg/mL). The analysis of SEM and TEM confirmed that the compound 3 b can obviously damage the morphological structure of hyphae, resulting in the depletion of the cells by the destruction of morphological matrix and leakage of contents. RNA sequencing showed that compounds 3 b mainly affected the pentose phosphate pathway, which caused to destroy the layer of mitochondrial structure. Molecular docking showed that compounds 3 b fitted the binding pocket of yeast transketolase and interacted with lysine at the hydrazone structure. Our results suggested that the introduction of hydrazone was an effective strategy for the design of novel bioactive compounds.

Antidiabetic Potential of Commonly Available Fruit Plants in Bangladesh: Updates on Prospective Phytochemicals and Their Reported MoAs

Diabetes mellitus is a life-threatening disorder affecting people of all ages and adversely disrupts their daily functions. Despite the availability of numerous synthetic-antidiabetic medications and insulin, the demand for the development of novel antidiabetic medications is increasing due to the adverse effects and growth of resistance to commercial drugs in the long-term usage. Hence, antidiabetic phytochemicals isolated from fruit plants can be a very nifty option to develop life-saving novel antidiabetic therapeutics, employing several pathways and MoAs (mechanism of actions). This review focuses on the antidiabetic potential of commonly available Bangladeshi fruits and other plant parts, such as seeds, fruit peals, leaves, and roots, along with isolated phytochemicals from these phytosources based on lab findings and mechanism of actions. Several fruits, such as orange, lemon, amla, tamarind, and others, can produce remarkable antidiabetic actions and can be dietary alternatives to antidiabetic therapies. Besides, isolated phytochemicals from these plants, such as swertisin, quercetin, rutin, naringenin, and other prospective phytochemicals, also demonstrated their candidacy for further exploration to be established as antidiabetic leads. Thus, it can be considered that fruits are one of the most valuable gifts of plants packed with a wide spectrum of bioactive phytochemicals and are widely consumed as dietary items and medicinal therapies in different civilizations and cultures. This review will provide a better understanding of diabetes management by consuming fruits and other plant parts as well as deliver innovative hints for the researchers to develop novel drugs from these plant parts and/or their phytochemicals.

Combined Risk Assessment of Food-derived Coumarin with <i>in Silico</i> Approaches

Hepatotoxicity associated with food-derived coumarin occurs occasionally in humans. We have, herein, assessed the data of existing clinical and nonclinical studies as well as those of in silico models for humans in order to shed more light on this association. The average intakes of food-derived coumarin are estimated to be 1−3 mg/day, while a ten-times higher level is expected in the worst-case scenarios. These levels are close to or above the tolerable daily intake suggested by a chronic study in dogs. The human internal exposure levels were estimated by a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model with the use of virtual doses of coumarin in the amounts expected to derive from foods. Our results suggest that: (i) coumarin can be cleared rapidly via 7-hydroxylation in humans, and (ii) the plasma levels of coumarin and of its metabolite, o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid associated with hepatotoxicity, are considerably lower than those yielding hepatotoxicity in rats. Pharmacokinetic data suggest a low or negligible concern regarding a coumarin-induced hepatotoxicity in humans exposed to an average intake from foods. Detoxification of coumarin through the 7-hydroxylation, however, might vary among individuals due to genetic polymorphisms in CYP2A6 enzyme. In addition, the CYP1A2- and CYP2E1-mediated activation of coumarin can fluctuate as a result of induction caused by environmental factors. Furthermore, the daily consumption of food-contained coumarin was implicated in the potential risk of hepatotoxicity by the drug-induced liver injury score model developed by the US Food and Drug Administration. These results support the idea of the existence of human subpopulations that are highly sensitive to coumarin; therefore, a more precise risk assessment is needed. The present study also highlights the usefulness of in silico approaches of pharmacokinetics with the liver injury score model as battery components of a risk assessment.

Roles of human cytochrome P450 1A2 in coumarin 3,4-epoxidation mediated by untreated hepatocytes and by those metabolically inactivated with furafylline in previously transplanted chimeric mice

Coumarin is a naturally occurring component of food products but is of clinical interest for its potential hepatotoxicity in humans. In the current study, the pharmacokinetics of coumarin in humanized-liver mice after oral and intravenous administrations (30 mg/kg) were investigated for its transformations to metabolically active coumarin 3,4-epoxide (as estimated by the levels of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) and to excretable 7-hydroxycoumarin. After oral administration, control mice metabolized coumarin to o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid at roughly the same rate as that to 7-hydroxycoumarin (total of unconjugated and conjugated forms). In contrast, the in vivo biotransformation of coumarin to o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid by humanized-liver mice was around two orders of magnitude less than that to conjugated and unconjugated 7-hydroxycoumarin. After intravenous administrations of coumarin, differences were observed in the plasma concentrations of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid between humanized-liver mice treated with furafylline (daily oral doses of 13 mg/kg for 3 days) and untreated humanized-liver mice. The mean values of the areas under the plasma concentration versus time curves and the maximum concentrations for o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid were significantly lower in the group treated with furafylline (45% and 57% of the untreated values, respectively). These results suggested that the metabolic activation of coumarin in humans was mediated mainly by P450 1A2, which was suppressed by furafylline, and that humanized-liver mice orally treated with furafylline might constitute an in vivo model for metabolically inactivated P450 1A2 in human hepatocytes transplanted into chimeric mice.

Metabolic activation and deactivation of dietary-derived coumarin mediated by cytochrome P450 enzymes in rat and human liver preparations

Dietary-derived coumarin is of clinical interest for its potential hepatotoxicity in humans because such toxicity is especially evident in rats. In this study, the oxidative metabolism of coumarin to active coumarin 3,4-epoxide (as judged by the formation rates of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) and excretable 7-hydroxycoumarin was investigated in liver fractions from rats and humans. In rat liver microsomes, the formation rate of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (~6 pmol/min/mg microsomal protein) from coumarin at 10 μM was dependent on the presence of liver cytosolic fractions. Rat hepatocytes mediated similar formation rates of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and 7-hydroxycoumarin (~0.1 nmol/hr/10⁶ cells) at 0.20-20 μM coumarin. Human hepatocytes mediated the biotransformation of coumarin to o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid at roughly similar rates to those of rat hepatocytes. In contrast, the formation rates of 7-hydroxycoumarin by human hepatocytes were around 10-fold higher at ~1 nmol/hr/10⁶ cells. In the presence of human liver cytosolic fractions, the oxidative formation rate of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid was relatively high in cytochrome P450 (P450) 1A2-rich human liver microsomes. The inhibitory effects of furafylline/α-naphthoflavone and 8-methoxypsoralen, P450 1A2 and 2A6 inhibitors, respectively, were seen on the rates of o-hydroxyphenylacetic and 7-hydroxylation formations, respectively, in pooled human liver microsomes. Human liver microsomes selectively inactivated for P450 1A2 and 2A6 showed low rates of o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and 7-hydroxylation formation (~20-30% of control), respectively. Among the P450 isoforms tested, recombinant human P450 1A2 predominantly mediated o-hydroxyphenylacetic formation. These results suggested that the metabolic activation and deactivation of coumarin were mediated mainly by P450 1A2 and 2A6 enzymes, respectively. The metabolic oxidation of coumarin via 3,4-epoxidation forming o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid could inform individual human risk assessments of dietary-derived coumarin, for which hepatotoxicity is especially evident in rats.

Metabolic profiles of coumarin in human plasma extrapolated from a rat data set with a simplified physiologically based pharmacokinetic model

Coumarin is a dietary-derived substance that is extensively metabolized by human liver to excretable 7-hydroxycoumarin. Although coumarin under daily dietary consumption is generally regarded as nontoxic, the substance is of toxicological and clinical interest because of its potential association with hepatotoxicity, which is especially evident in rats. In this study, the pharmacokinetics of coumarin were modeled after virtual oral administration in humans. The adjusted monitoring equivalents of coumarin, along with the biotransformation of coumarin to o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (via 3,4-epoxidation) based on reported plasma concentrations from rat studies, were scaled to human coumarin equivalents using known species allometric scaling factors. Using rat and human liver preparations, data on the rapid in vitro metabolic clearance for humans (~50-fold faster than in rats) were obtained for in vitro-in vivo extrapolation. For human physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, the metabolic ratios to o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and 7-hydroxycoumarin were set at minor (0.1) and major (0.9) levels for the total disappearance of coumarin. The resulting modeled plasma concentration curves in humans generated by simple PBPK models were consistent with reported simulated coumarin maximum concentrations. These results provide basic information to simulate plasma levels of coumarin and its primary metabolite 7-hydroxycoumarin or its secondary activated metabolite o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (via 3,4-epoxidation) resulting from dietary foodstuff consumption. Under the current assumptions, little toxicological impact of coumarin was evident in humans, thereby indicating the usefulness of forward dosimetry using PBPK modeling for human risk assessment.

A Controlled Fermented Samjunghwan Herbal Formula Ameliorates Non-alcoholic Hepatosteatosis in HepG2 Cells and OLETF Rats

Hepatosteatosis (HS), a clinical feature of fatty liver with the excessive intracellular accumulation of triglyceride in hepatocytes, is manifested by perturbation of the maintenance of liver lipid homeostasis. Samjunghwan (SJH) is an herbal formula used mostly in Korean traditional medicine that is effective against a number of metabolic diseases, including obesity. Herbal drugs, enriched with numerous bioactive substances, possess health-protective benefits. Meanwhile, fermented herbal products enriched with probiotics are known to improve metabolic processes. Additionally, current lines of evidence indicate that probiotics-derived metabolites, termed as postbiotics, produce the same beneficial effects as their precursors. Herein, the anti-HS effects of 5-weeks naturally fermented SJH (FSJH) was investigated with FSJH-mixed chow diet in vivo using Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) and Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats as animal models of HS and controls, respectively. In parallel, the anti-HS effects of postbiotic-metabolites of three bacterial strains [Lactobacillus brevis (LBB), Lactococcus lactis (LCL) and Lactobacillus plantarum (LBP)] isolated from FSJH were also evaluated in vitro using the FFAs-induced HepG2 cells. Feeding OLETF rats with FSJH-diet effectively reduced body, liver, and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) weights, produced marked hypolipidemic effects on serum and hepatic lipid parameters, decreased serum AST and ALT levels, and upregulated the HMGCOR, SREBP, and ACC, and downregulated the AMPK and LDLR gene expressions levels. Additionally, exposure of FFAs-induced HepG2 cells to postbiotic metabolic media (PMM) of bacterial strains also produced marked hypolipidemic effects on intracellular lipid contents and significantly unregulated the HMGCOR, SREBP, and ACC, and downregulated the AMPK and LDLR genes expressions levels. Overall, our results indicate that FSJH enriched with fermented metabolites could be an effective anti-HS formulation.