Development of naringenin-O-alkylamine derivatives as multifunctional agents for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

In this study, a series of naringenin-O-alkylamine derivatives were designed and obtained by introducing an alkylamine fragment into the naringenin skeleton. The in vitro biological activity results revealed that compounds 5f and 7k showed good antioxidant activity with ORAC values of 2.3eq and 1.2eq, respectively. Compounds 5f and 7k were reversible and excellent huAChE inhibitors with IC(50) values of 0.91 μM and 0.57 μM, respectively. Moreover, compounds 5f and 7k could inhibit self-induced Aβ(1–42) aggregation with 62.1% and 43.8% inhibition rate, respectively, and significantly inhibited huAChE-Aβ(1–40) aggregation with 51.7% and 43.4% inhibition rate, respectively. In addition, compounds 5f and 7k were selective metal chelators and remarkably inhibited Cu(2+)-induced Aβ(1–42) aggregation with 73.5% and 68.7% inhibition rates, respectively. Furthermore, compounds 5f and 7k could cross the blood-brain barrier in vitro and displayed good neuroprotective effects and anti-inflammatory properties. Further investigation showed that compound 5f did not show obvious hepatotoxicity and displayed a good hepatoprotective effect by its antioxidant activity. The in vivo study displayed that compound 5f significantly improved scopolamine-induced mice memory impairment. Therefore, compound 5f was a potential multifunctional candidate for the treatment of AD.