Intravenous Semaphorin 3A Administration Maintains Cardiac Contractility and Improves Electrical Remodeling in a Mouse Model of Isoproterenol-Induced Heart Failure

The effects of recombinant semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) on myocardial contractility and electrical remodeling in mice with isoproterenol (ISP) -induced heart failure were investigated.C57BL/6J mice intraperitoneally received ISP (480 mg/kg/day, ISP group; n = 24) or saline (control group; n = 31) for 14 days. Twenty-one ISP-treated mice received 0.5 mg/kg Sema3A intravenously on days 7 and 11 (ISP+Sema3A group). The sympathetic nervous system was activated upon ISP treatment, but was reduced upon Sema3A administration. Greater myocardial tissue fibrosis was observed in the ISP group than in the control group. However, fibrosis was not significantly different between the ISP+Sema3A and control groups. Fractional shortening of the left ventricle was lower in the ISP group than in the control group and was restored in the ISP+Sema3A group (control, 53 ± 8%; ISP, 37 ± 7%; ISP+Sema3A, 48 ± 3%; P < 0.05). Monophasic action potential duration at 20% repolarization (MAPD₂₀) was prolonged in the ISP group (compared to control group), but this was reversed upon Sema3A administration (control, 29 ± 3 ms; ISP, 35 ± 6 ms; ISP+Sema3A, 29 ± 3 ms; P < 0.05). qPCR revealed Kv4.3, KChIP2, and SERCA2 downregulation in the ISP group and upregulation in the ISP+Sema3A group; however, Western blotting revealed similar changes only for Kv4.3 (P < 0.05).Intravenous Sema3A may maintain myocardial contractility by suppressing the sympathetic innervation of the myocardium and reducing myocardial tissue damage, in addition to restoring MAPD via Kv4.3 upregulation.

Determination of the beta-blocker carteolol in human plasma by a sensitive gas chromatographic-negative-ion chemical ionization high-resolution mass spectrometric method

A specific and sensitive gas chromatographic-high-resolution mass spectrometric method for the determination of 5-(3-tert.-butylamino-2-hydroxy)propoxy-3,4-dihydrocarbostyril (carteolol), which is a beta-blocker giving depression of intraocular pressure, was developed to elucidate the pharmacokinetics of its ophthalmic application. Carteolol has been determined by high-performance liquid chromatography but with less satisfactory sensitivity. Carteolol was derivatized with pentafluorobenzoyl (PFB) amide followed by dimethylethylsilyl (DMES) ether, resulting in a high negative-ion current. The PFB-DMES derivative of carteolol was determined by the gas chromatography-negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry (GC-NICI-MS) using selected-ion monitoring at low and high mass spectrometric resolution. the detection limit was less than 100 fg when the fragment ion was monitored at m/z 552.2067 in the NICI mode using methane as a reagent gas. The quantification limit of carteolol in human plasma with this method was less than 30 pg/ml. The proposed GC-MS method is considered to have sufficient specificity and sensitivity to study the pharmacokinetics of carteolol used as an ophthalmic solution.

New norepinephrine potentiators: synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a series of 4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-4-ols

A variety of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-4-ols (1-6) were prepared as part of our search for new norepinephrine (NE) potentiators and to clarify the structure-activity relationships. These compounds and some previously prepared compounds were compared with 2-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-4-ol (PI-OH) (1a) for ability to potentiate NE. The potency, for 2-substitution, was found to be in the order: Me > Et > iso-Pr > H. The compounds substituted by a halogen atom at the para position in the 4-phenyl group of PI-OH showed greater activities than did PI-OH, and the observed order of potency for the substitution was Cl > Br > F > H. The compound (4) methylated at the hydroxy group in PI-OH had greatly diminished activity. Although the desoxy compound (6) of PI-OH potentiated the response to NE at low concentrations, the potentiation was progressively masked by an inhibitory activity as the concentration of 6 was increased. In addition, the 4-cyclohexyl analogue (5) failed to potentiate NE. These results show the importance of the beta-phenylethanolamine skeleton of PI-OH for producing NE potentiation without accompanying inhibitory action. The racemic 4-chlorophenyl analogue (2a) was resolved by HPLC to (R)-(+)-2a and (S)-(-)-2a. The NE-potentiating activity was found to reside exclusively in (R)-(+)-2a, which had the highest activity among compounds tested in this study; the activity ratio was 25 at 3 x 10(-6) M. The antidepressant activity of racemic 2a was evaluated by a forced swimming test.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Resolution, absolute stereochemistry, and enantioselectivity of 2-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-4-ol

Racemic 2-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-4-ol (PI-OH) (1) was found to be an effective potentiator of the contractile response of norepinephrine (NE) on rat anococcygeus muscle. This paper describes the resolution of racemic PI-OH by an HPLC method to give the optically pure enantiomers (+)-1 and (-)-1. The absolute configuration of (+)-1 was R as determined by CD analysis and by single-crystal X-ray diffractometric analysis of the methiodide 6 derived from (+)-1. Examination of the effects of the enantiomers to potentiate the contraction of the rat anococcygeus muscle by NE showed a high degree of enantioselectivity. The NE potentiation was found to reside exclusively in (R)-(+)-1; the activity ratio being 21 at 3 x 10(-6) M, whereas (S)-(-)-1 did not show any potentiating and inhibiting activity.