2′-3′-Cyclic Nucleotide 3′-Phosphodiesterase Inhibition by Organometallic Vanadium Complexes: A Potential New Paradigm for Studying CNS Degeneration

The enzyme, 2′-3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase (CNPase) has been known for over fifty years. Nevertheless, the roles this membrane-bound enzyme play have yet to be described completely. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the study of this enzyme due to studies that suggest that CNPase plays a role in the mediation of cellular inflammatory responses in renal and nervous system tissues. Also, this enzyme, found in oligodendrocytes of the nervous system, has been reported to participate in significant regulatory changes associated with age which may be involved in age-related CNS degeneration. Consequently, development of CNPase inhibitors is of interest and should aid in the study of this, as yet, poorly understood enzyme. In this work we utilized a spectrophotometric enzyme assay to determine the effect a panel of organo-vanadium complexes had on isolated hamster myelin CNPase activity. Our group has now identified several potent in vitro CNPase inhibitors that could prove useful in clarifying the important roles of this enzyme.