0000000000667093
AUTHOR
Addolorata Coluccia
Preclinical progress with CHF2819, a novel orally active acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
(-)-(3aS,8aS,1S)-1,2,3,3a,8,8a-hexahydro-1,3a,8-trimethylpyrrolo[2,3-b]indol-5-ol-2′-ethylphenylcarbamate N-oxide hydrochloride (CHF2819) is a novel, orally active acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) for Alzheimer's disease (AD). CHF2819 appears as a selective inhibitor of AChE, being 115 times more potent against this enzyme than butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). Moreover, CHF2819 appears more selective for inhibiting central (brain) than peripheral (heart) AChE. In vivo studies show that CHF2819 significantly increases acetylcholine (ACh) levels in young adult rat hippocampus in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, aged animals exhibit a marked increase in hippocampal concentrations of this…
Prenatal low-level exposure to CO alters postnatal development of hippocampal nitric oxide synthase and haem-oxygenase activities in rats.
The effects of prenatal CO exposure (150 ppm from days 0 to 20 of pregnancy) on the postnatal development of hippocampal neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) and haem-oxygenase (HO-2) isoform activities in 15-, 30- and 90-d-old rats were investigated. Unlike HO-2, hippocampal nNOS activity increased from postnatal days 15-90 in controls. Prenatal CO produced a long-lasting decrease in either nNOS or HO-2. The results suggest that the altered developmental profile of hippocampal nNOS and HO-2 activities could be involved in cognitive deficits and long-term potentiation dysfunction exhibited by rats prenatally exposed to CO levels resulting in carboxyhaemoglobin (HbCO) levels equivalent to those obser…