Faculty and Student Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-25-2020
Abstract
As part of a study on triterpenoid conjugates, the dietary pentacyclic triterpenoids oleanolic (2a) and ursolic acids (3a) were coupled with vanillamine, and the resulting amides (2b and 3b, respectively) were assayed for activity on the vanilloid receptor TRPV1. Despite a structural difference limited to the location of a methyl group in their conformationally rigid pentacyclic core, oleanoloyl vanillamide dramatically outperformed ursoloyl vanillamide in terms of potency (EC50 = 35 ± 2 nM for 2b and 5.4 ± 2.3 μM for 3b). Using molecular docking and dynamics, this difference was translated into distinct accommodation modes at the TRPV1 vanillyl ligand pocket, suggesting a critical role of a C-H πphenyl interaction between the triterpenoid C-29 methyl and Phe591 of TRPV1. Because the molecular mechanisms underlying the activation process of transient receptor channels (TRPs) remain to be fully elucidated, the observation of spatially restricted structure-activity information is of significant relevance to identify the molecular detail of TRPV1 ligand gating.
Relational Format
journal article
Recommended Citation
Vitale, R. M., Avonto, C., Del Prete, D., Moriello, A. S., Amodeo, P., Appendino, G., & De Petrocellis, L. (2020). Discovery of a remarkable methyl shift effect in the vanilloid activity of triterpene amides. Journal of Natural Products, 83(11), 3476–3481. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c00639
DOI
10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c00639
Accessibility Status
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