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We report the facile and non-covalent preparation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) stabilized by an antiparkinson codrug based on lipoic acid (LA). The obtained AuNPs appear stable in both dimethyl sulfoxide and fetal bovine serum and able to load an amount of codrug double the weight of gold. These NPs were demonstrated to be safe and biocompatible towards primary human blood cells and human neuroblastoma cells, one of the most widely used cellular models to study dopaminergic neural cells, therefore are ideal drug carriers for difficult to solubilize molecules. Very interestingly, the codrug-stabilized AuNPs were shown to reduce the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in SH-SY5Y cells treated with LD and did not change total oxidant status levels in cultured human blood cells, thus confirming the antioxidant role of LA although bound to AuNPs. The characterization of AuNPs in terms of loading and stability paves the way for their use in biomedical and pharmacological applications.

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Guanosine has been reported to exert neuroprotective effects. We recently reported that, following intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection to rats, it resulted to be widely distributed. Its metabolic product guanine also rapidly increased in all the tissues, including brain, after i.p. injection of guanosine and consistently we found a significant enzymatic activity of a soluble purine nucleoside phosphorylase in the plasma of the treated animals. In this study the effect of per os administration of guanosine or guanine to rats submitted to passive avoidance task has been evaluated. Guanosine (4 and 8 mg/kg) administered pretraining impaired retention in the passive avoidance task and was unable to prevent the amnesic effect caused by 100 mg/kg N-omega-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) known to reduce the capability of treated animals to acquire or retain informations in several learning tasks. On the contrary, guanine (4 and 8 mg/kg), which per se did not modify the latency to step-trough in the passive avoidance task, when administered pretraining 15 min before L-NAME prevented, in a dose dependent manner, the amnesic effect of the NOS inhibitor. Moreover the nucleobase was able to rescue the memory trace also when administered after training. Neither guanosine nor guanine had effects on locomotor activity. These results indicate that guanine can exert important biological activities which may be different from those mediated by its precursor guanosine, thus this evenience should be taken into account when the biological effects of guanosine are evaluated.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a pathological condition characterized by a progressive neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons with the consequent reduction of dopamine content in the substantia nigra. The neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) is widely used to mimic the neuropathology of PD in both in vivo and in vitro experimental models. We found that, as expected, in dopaminergic human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells the toxin reduced cell viability causing programmed cell death as assessed by an increase in DNA fragmentation. We also examined, in these cells, the activation/inactivation of several pro and anti apoptotic signaling pathways by 6-OHDA including p-38 kinase (p-38), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), protein kinase B (also known as Akt), glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK3ß), and Bcl-2 protein. Guanine-based purines, exert neuroprotective effects and we previously reported that guanosine activates cell survival pathways including PI3K/Akt/PKB signaling in different kinds of cells including glia and neuroblastoma cells. In the present study we found that guanosine (300 µM) protected SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells when they were exposed to 6-OHDA, promoting their survival. Guanosine reduced the 6-OHDA mediated activation of p-38 and JNK. Moreover the nucleoside potentiated the early increase in the phosphorylation of the anti-apoptotic kinase Akt and the increase in the expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein induced by 6-OHDA. In summary our results show that guanosine results to be neuroprotective in a recognized in vitro model of PD thus suggesting that it could represent a new potential pharmacological tool to be studied in the therapeutic approach to PD.

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Guanosine has been reported to exert neuroprotective effects. We recently reported that, following intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection to rats, it resulted to be widely distributed. Its metabolic product guanine also rapidly increased in all the tissues, including brain, after i.p. injection of guanosine and consistently we found a significant enzymatic activity of a soluble purine nucleoside phosphorylase in the plasma of the treated animals. In this study the effect of per os administration of guanosine or guanine to rats submitted to passive avoidance task has been evaluated. Guanosine (4 and 8 mg/kg) administered pretraining impaired retention in the passive avoidance task and was unable to prevent the amnesic effect caused by 100 mg/kg N-omega-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) known to reduce the capability of treated animals to acquire or retain informations in several learning tasks. On the contrary, guanine (4 and 8 mg/kg), which per se did not modify the latency to step-trough in the passive avoidance task, when administered pretraining 15 min before L-NAME prevented, in a dose dependent manner, the amnesic effect of the NOS inihibitor. Moreover the nucleobase was able to rescue the memory trace also when administered after training. Neither guanosine nor guanine had effects on locomotor activity. These results indicate that guanine can exert important biological activities which may be different from those mediated by its precursor guanosine, thus this evenience should be taken into account when the biological effects of guanosine are evaluated.

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In connection with the synthesis of shwarone (II), a sesquiterpinoid with interesting pharmacological properties, some results on the alkylation in the 9-position of the model substance delta6-octalone-1 (VI) are reported. Methylation, especially if carried out in polar aprotic solvents, gives mainly the trans derivative, this being the type needed for synthesis of compound (II); alkylation with allylbromides and propargyl gives mainly the cis isomer.

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New approaches for the synthesis of cis, trans, trans, octadeca-9,11,13-trienoic acid (I) and its trans, trans, cis isomer (II), starting from the easily available propargyl alcohol are described.

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The preparation of 2-formyl-1.4-benzodioxane by reduction of the corresponding ethyl ester, and some reactions of this aldehyde carried out with the aim of obtaining new pharmacologically active derivatives, are described. Wittig reactions with stabilized, semi-stabilized, and reactive phosphoranes resulted in the formation of the 2-alkenyl derivatives. Reaction with a primary amine led to the corresponding imine. The 1.3-dithiane was also prepared and its behaviour with strong bases and alkylating reagents investigated.

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