O Staphylococcus aureus é uma bactéria do grupo dos cocos gram-positivos que faz parte da microbiota humana, mas que pode provocar doenças que vão desde uma infecção simples, como espinhas e furúnculos, até as mais graves, como pneumonia, meningite, endocardite, síndrome do choque tóxico e septicemia, entre outras. Essa bactéria foi uma das primeiras a serem controladas com a descoberta dos antibióticos, mas, devido a sua enorme capacidade de adaptação e resistência, tornou-se uma das espécies de maior importância no quadro das infecções hospitalares e comunitárias. Neste artigo faremos uma revisão sobre esse agente infeccioso e as bases dos mecanismos das patologias por ele provocadas, de forma a ressaltar a necessidade de mantê-lo como alvo para o desenho de novos antibióticos. IntroduçãoO Staphylococcus aureus é uma bactéria esférica, do grupo dos cocos gram-positivos, freqüentemente encontrada na pele e nas fossas nasais de pessoas saudáveis. Entretanto pode provocar doenças, que vão desde uma simples infecção (espinhas, furúnculos e celulites) até infecções graves (pneumonia, meningite, endocardite, síndrome do choque tóxico, septicemia e outras). A implantação da antimicrobianoterapia, no início da década de 1930, com o emprego da sulfanilamida (descoberta por Gerard Domagk em 1932),

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by flagellate protozoan Leishmania spp. and represents an emergent illness with high morbidity and mortality in the tropics and subtropics. Since the discovery of the first drugs for Leishmaniasis treatment (i.e., pentavalent antimonials), until the current days, the search for substances with antileishmanial activity, without toxic effects, and able to overcome the emergence of drug resistant strains still remains as the current goal. This article reports the development of new chemotherapies through the rational design of new drugs, the use of products derived from microorganisms and plants, and treatments related to immunity as new alternatives for the chemotherapy of leishmaniasis.

Rio de Janeiro RJRecebido em 1/3/01; aceito em 13/6/01 MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY OF N-ACYLHYDRAZONES: NOVEL LEAD-COMPOUNDS OF ANALGESIC, ANTIINFLAMMATORY AND ANTITHROMBOTIC DRUGS. In this article are described new bioactive N-acylhydrazone (NAH) derivatives, structurally designed as optimization of aryl hydrazones precursors planned by molecular hybridization of two 5-lipoxigenase inhibitors, e.g. CBS-1108 and BW-755c. The analgesic, antiedematogenic and anti-platelet aggregating profile of several isosteric compounds was investigated by using classic pharmacological assays in vivo and ex-vivo, allowing to identify new potent peripheric analgesic lead, a new anti-inflammatory and an antithrombotic agent. During this study was discovered dozen of active NAH compounds clarifying the structure-activity relationship for this series of NAH derivatives, indicating the pharmacophore character of the N-acylhydrazone functionality.Keywords: bioactive N-acylhydrazones derivatives; antiinflammatory, analgesic and antithrombotic properties; molecular hybridization and bioisosterism in drug design. INTRODUÇÃOA Química Medicinal estuda as razões moleculares da ação dos fármacos 1 de maneira a descrever a relação entre a estrutura química e a atividade farmacológica, hierarquizando as diferentes contribuições funcionais. No contexto inverso, inclui-se o planejamento e o desenho estrutural de novas substâncias que possuam propriedades farmacoterapêuticas úteis, capazes de representarem novas entidades químicas, candidatas a protótipos de novos fármacos de uso seguro. Esta complexa tarefa envolve múltiplos fatores, responsáveis pela resposta terapêutica desejada e decorrentes da complexidade dos sistemas biológicos, abrangendo diversos conceitos de diferentes disciplinas, não podendo ser cumprida aleatoriamente. Heuristicamente para a identificação de um novo composto-protóti-po ou uma nova entidade química que possa representar novo candidato a fármaco, elege-se o melhor alvo-farmacológico para aquela aplicação terapêutica e, em função do nível de conhecimento estrutural disponível sobre este receptor, identifica-se a melhor estratégia para a construção da arquitetura molecular do novo ligante desejado. Diversas estratégias modernas de desenho molecular de novos protótipos são conhecidas 2 , em função do mecanismo de ação pretendido, seja inibição enzimática, reversível ou não, ou agonismo/antagonismo, competitivo ou não, do receptor, que dependem do nível de conhecimento de sua topografia.O conhecimento da topografia molecular tridimensional (3D) do receptor, especialmente do sítio de interação, permite o desenho de inibidores enzimáticos ou de antagonistas/agonistas de receptores, por processos de complementaridade molecular planejada, 3 que podem, por sua vez, discriminar entre interações ou ligações covalentes 4 . Quando não se conhece a estrutura do biorreceptor-alvo, a estratégia mais empregada fundamenta-se na variação da similaridade molecular do agonista natural de forma a que se identifique um análogo ativo 5 , reflexo de s...

This paper describes the synthesis of some novel azasterols based on (20R,22xi)-5alpha-pregnan-20-(piperidin-2-yl)-3beta,20-diol. These compounds are potential inhibitors of the enzyme sterol 24-methyltransferase (24-SMT), which is a vital enzyme in the biosynthesis of ergosterol and related 24-alkyl sterols. Structure-activity studies were undertaken to understand the important features for activity against the enzyme, with the aim of increasing activity and selectivity. The compounds were evaluated for inhibition of recombinant Leishmania major 24-SMT and the effect of compounds on sterol composition and parasite proliferation. Essentially, compounds which showed good activity against the recombinant enzyme had a significant effect on the sterol composition and growth of parasites. The activity of compounds was found to be related to the basicity and stereochemical location of the nitrogen. Also, presence of an unprotected 3beta-OH seemed to be important for activity. However, some azasterols which were not good inhibitors of 24-SMT also showed antiproliferative activity, suggesting that there may be other modes of actions of these compounds.

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ER-119884 and E5700, novel arylquinuclidine derivatives developed as cholesterol-lowering agents, were potent in vitro growth inhibitors of both proliferative stages of Leishmania amazonensis, the main causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in South America, with the 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC 50 s) being in the low-nanomolar to subnanomolar range. The compounds were very potent noncompetitive inhibitors of native L. amazonensis squalene synthase (SQS), with inhibition constants also being in the nanomolar to subnanomolar range. Growth inhibition was strictly associated with the depletion of the parasite's main endogenous sterols and the concomitant accumulation of exogenous cholesterol. Using electron microscopy, we identified the intracellular structures affected by the compounds. A large number of lipid inclusions displaying different shapes and electron densities were observed after treatment with both SQS inhibitors, and these inclusions were associated with an intense disorganization of the membrane that surrounds the cell body and flagellum, as well as the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex. Cells treated with ER-119884 but not those treated with E5700 had an altered cytoskeleton organization due to an abnormal distribution of tubulin, and many were arrested at cytokinesis. A prominent contractile vacuole and a phenotype typical of programmed cell death were frequently found in drug-treated cells. The selectivity of the drugs was demonstrated with the JC-1 mitochondrial fluorescent label and by trypan blue exclusion tests with macrophages, which showed that the IC 50 s against the host cells were 4 to 5 orders of magnitude greater that those against the intracellular parasites. Taken together, our results show that ER-119884 and E5700 are unusually potent and selective inhibitors of the growth of Leishmania amazonensis, probably because of their inhibitory effects on de novo sterol biosynthesis at the level of SQS, but some of our observations indicate that ER-119884 may also interfere with other cellular processes.

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In this work, we performed the design, synthesis, and the structure-activity relationship studies of 13 new derivatives of thieno[2,3-b]pyridine. These derivatives were prepared in high yields (96-70%) and their structures were elucidated by IR, (1)H, (13)C NMR, and MS. The biological results showed some derivatives as antiparasitic agents against Giardia lamblia. Computational analysis of HOMO and LUMO energy, HOMO orbital coefficient distribution, electrostatic potential map, dipole moment, and density HOMO was performed to gain insight into the SAR aspects. This study pointed the p-methoxy substituted derivative as a leading compound for the development of new microbicidal medicines based on thieno[2,3-b]pyridine analogs.