Thiazolidinedione insulin sensitizers alter lipid bilayer properties and voltage-dependent sodium channel function: implications for drug discovery

The thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2. Their canonical effects are mediated by activation of the peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ (PPARγ) transcription factor. In addition to effects mediated by gene activation, the TZDs cause acute, transcription-independent changes in various membrane transport processes, including glucose transport, and they alter the function of a diverse group of membrane proteins, including ion channels. The basis for these off-target effects is unknown, but the TZDs are hydrophobic/amphiphilic and adsorb to the bilayer–water interface, which will alter bilayer properties, meaning that the TZDs may alter membrane protein function by bilayer-mediated mechanisms. We therefore explored whether the TZDs alter lipid bilayer properties sufficiently to be sensed by bilayer-spanning proteins, using gramicidin A (gA) channels as probes. The TZDs altered bilayer elastic properties with potencies that did not correlate with their affinity for PPARγ. At concentrations where they altered gA channel function, they also altered the function of voltage-dependent sodium channels, producing a prepulse-dependent current inhibition and hyperpolarizing shift in the steady-state inactivation curve. The shifts in the inactivation curve produced by the TZDs and other amphiphiles can be superimposed by plotting them as a function of the changes in gA channel lifetimes. The TZDs’ partition coefficients into lipid bilayers were measured using isothermal titration calorimetry. The most potent bilayer modifier, troglitazone, alters bilayer properties at clinically relevant free concentrations; the least potent bilayer modifiers, pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, do not. Unlike other TZDs tested, ciglitazone behaves like a hydrophobic anion and alters the gA monomer–dimer equilibrium by more than one mechanism. Our results provide a possible mechanism for some off-target effects of an important group of drugs, and underscore the importance of exploring bilayer effects of candidate drugs early in drug development

Thiol-mediated generation of nitric oxide accounts for the vasodilator action of furoxans

Furoxans (1,2,5-oxadiazole-2-oxides) are widely used in organic chemistry as intermediate compounds for the synthesis of various heterocycles. Despite the fact that some furoxans have been found to possess remarkable biological activities, up to now no systematic study on their mode of action has been reported. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mode of the vasodilator action of furoxans. Furoxans, but not the corresponding furazans, concentration-dependently increased coronary flow in an isolated working rat heart preparation. This effect was blunted upon coinfusion with methylene blue. All tested furoxans were demonstrated to increase potently the activity of soluble guanylate cyclase. Enzyme stimulation was found to be mediated by the generation of nitric oxide (NO) following chemical reaction of the furoxans with sulfhydryl groups of low molecular weight thiols and proteins. Furoxans are thus prodrugs which increase the level of cyclic GMP via formation of NO and may therefore be classified as nitrovasodilators. Along with the generation of NO, nitrite and nitrate ions and S-nitrosothiols were formed. The rates of formation of these metabolites, however, did not appear to be related to enzyme stimulation. A tentative reaction scheme that fits the obtained experimental data is proposed. Recently reported cytotoxic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive and anticancer effects of furoxans are discussed in the light of their ability to release NO upon reaction with thiols