Cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump as a target for benzoquinones.

1. Three benzoquinones (p-benzoquinone, 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone and tetramethyl-1,4-benzoquinone), differing for their electrophilicity, were tested on Ca2+ ATPase activity of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane vesicles. 2.

Metabolism of simple quinones in guinea pig and rat cardiac tissue.

1. The metabolism of the benzoquinone 2,5-dimethylbenzoquinone and of the naphthoquinone 2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone was studied in subcellular fractions isolated from cardiac tissue of guinea pig and rat. 2.

Structure-activity relationship for the inhibition of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase activity by naphthoquinones.

Four naphthoquinones (5-OH-1,4-naphthoquinone (juglone), 5-OH-2-CH3-1,4-naphthoquinone (plumbagine), 2-CH3-1,4-naphthoquinone (menadione) and 2,3-(OCH3)2-1,4-naphthoquinone (2,3diOmeNQ)), differing for the presence of electrophilic groups in orto position in respect of quinone mojety and for hydroxylation in C5, were tested on Ca2+ ATPase activity of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane vesicles. The 2-unsubstituted quinone, juglone, was a potent inhibitor of Ca2+ ATPase activity, while the 2-methyl-substituted quinones, plumbagine and menadione, inhibited the enzyme activity only after a sufficiently long preincubation time 2,3DiOMeNQ did not affect Ca2+ ATPase activity at all. Hydroxylation in C5 was responsible for the type of inhibition, making it irreversible.

Chemical and pharmacological characterization of Erythrophleum lasianthum alkaloids.

Two alkaloids 1 and 2 were isolated from the seeds of Erythrophleum lasianthum. Their structures were assigned by spectroscopic and chemical means as 3 beta-hydroxynorerythrosuamine (1) and its 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2). In spontaneously beating atria, both compounds 1 and 2 showed a marked and concentration-dependent positive inotropic activity and a weak negative chronotropic activity.

Pharmacological characterization of a new milrinone analogue.

In a new series of milrinone analogues (esters of 2-substituted 5-acetyl-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-3-pyridinecarboxylic acids), ethyl 5-acetyl-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-2-phenyl-3-pyridinecarboxylate (compound 2f) has been found to be more potent and more effective than milrinone as a positive inotropic agent while affecting only marginally the frequency rate of guinea-pig isolated atria. This finding prompted us to study the mechanism of cardiac action of compound 2f in electrically driven left atrium from reserpine-treated guinea pigs. Compound 2f induced a statistically significant increase in the contractile force at a concentration as low as 1 microM, while the minimum effective concentration of milrinone was 10 microM.