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The optimization of a series of anilide derivatives of (R)-3,3, 3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionic acid as inhibitors of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDHK) is described that started from N-phenyl-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropanamide 1 (IC(50) = 35 +/- 1.4 microM). It was found that small electron-withdrawing groups on the ortho position of the anilide, i.e., chloro, acetyl, or bromo, increased potency 20-40-fold. The oral bioavailability of the compounds in this series is optimal (as measured by AUC) when the anilide is substituted at the 4-position with an electron-withdrawing group (i.e., carboxyl, carboxyamide, and sulfoxyamide). N-(2-Chloro-4-isobutylsulfamoylphenyl)-(R)-3,3, 3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionamide (10a) inhibits PDHK in the primary enzymatic assay with an IC(50) of 13 +/- 1.5 nM, enhances the oxidation of [(14)C]lactate into (14)CO(2) in human fibroblasts, lowers blood lactate levels significantly 2.5 and 5 h after oral doses as low as 30 micromol/kg, and increases the ex vivo activity of PDH in muscle, kidney, liver, and heart tissues. However, in contrast to sodium dichloroacetate (DCA), these PDHK inhibitors did not lower blood glucose levels. Nevertheless, they are effective at increasing the utilization and disposal of lactate and could be of utility to ameliorate conditions of inappropriate blood lactate elevation.

The activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (PDC), which catalyses the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA within the mitochondrion, is diminished in animal models of diabetes. Studies with purified PDC components have suggested that the kinases responsible for inactivating the decarboxylase catalytic subunits of the complex are most efficient in their regulatory role when they are bound to dihydrolipoyl acetyltransferase (E2) subunits, which form the structural core of the complex. We report that the addition of an exogenous E2 subdomain (inner lipoyl domain) to an intact PDC inhibits ATP-dependent inactivation of the complex. By combining molecular modelling, site-directed mutagenesis and biophysical characterizations, we have also identified two amino acid residues in this subdomain (Ile229 and Phe231) that largely determine the magnitude of this effect.

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The cDNA encoding rat liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT-II) was heterologously expressed using a recombinant baculovirus/insect cell system. Unlike Escherichia coli, the baculovirus-infected insect cells expressed mostly soluble active recombinant CPT-II (rCPT-II). CPT activity from crude lysates of recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells was maximal between 50 and 72 h post-infection, with a peak specific activity of 100-200 times that found in the mock- or wild-type-infected control lysates. Milligram quantities (up to 1.8 mg/l of culture) of active rCPT-II were chromatographically purified from large-scale cultures of insect cells infected with the recombinant baculovirus. The rCPT-II was found to be: (1) similar in size to the native rat liver enzyme (approximately 70 kDa) as judged by SDS/PAGE; (2) immunoreactive with a polyclonal serum raised against rat liver CPT-II; and (3) not glycosylated. Kinetic analysis of soluble rCPT-II revealed Km values for carnitine and palmitoyl-CoA of 950 +/- 27 microM and 34 +/- 5.6 microM respectively.