Epigallocatechin Gallate, a Green Tea Polyphenol, Mediates NO-dependent Vasodilation Using Signaling Pathways in Vascular Endothelium Requiring Reactive Oxygen Species and Fyn

Green tea consumption is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality in some epidemiological studies. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a bioactive polyphenol in green tea, mimics metabolic actions of insulin to inhibit gluconeogenesis in hepatocytes. Because signaling pathways regulating metabolic and vasodilator actions of insulin are shared in common, we hypothesized that EGCG may also have vasodilator actions to stimulate production of nitric oxide (NO) from endothelial cells. Acute intra-arterial administration of EGCG to mesenteric vascular beds isolated ex vivo from WKY rats caused dose-dependent vasorelaxation. This was inhibitable by L-NAME (NO synthase inhibitor), wortmannin (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor), or PP2 (Src family kinase inhibitor). Treatment of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) with EGCG (50 microm) acutely stimulated production of NO (assessed with NO-specific fluorescent dye DAF-2) that was inhibitable by l-NAME, wortmannin, or PP2. Stimulation of BAEC with EGCG also resulted in dose- and time-dependent phosphorylation of eNOS that was inhibitable by wortmannin or PP2 (but not by MEK inhibitor PD98059). Specific knockdown of Fyn (but not Src) with small interfering RNA inhibited both EGCG-stimulated phosphorylation of Akt and eNOS as well as production of NO in BAEC. Treatment of BAEC with EGCG generated intracellular H(2)O(2) (assessed with H(2)O(2)-specific fluorescent dye CM-H(2)DCF-DA), whereas treatment with N-acetylcysteine inhibited EGCG-stimulated phosphorylation of Fyn, Akt, and eNOS. We conclude that EGCG has endothelial-dependent vasodilator actions mediated by intracellular signaling pathways requiring reactive oxygen species and Fyn that lead to activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, Akt, and eNOS. This mechanism may explain, in part, beneficial vascular and metabolic health effects of green tea consumption

Active Site Design in a Chemzyme: Development of a Highly Asymmetric and Remarkably Temperature-Independent Catalyst for the Imino Aldol Reaction**

The asymmetric aldol reaction of an enolate or enolate equivalent with an imine is a reaction of established synthetic importance for the synthesis of chiral amines in general and bamino esters in particular. [1] The development of chiral catalysts for this reaction has proven to be a difficult task and had eluded all attempts until recently when Kobayashi and co-workers examined imines derived from o-aminophenol. [2±4] Their method involves the catalysis of the reactions of these imines and ketene acetals with a catalyst generated from zirconium(iv) tert-butoxide and two equivalents of (R)-6,6'-dibromoBINOL (BINOL 1,1'-binaphth-2-ol). Our interest in the synthesis of chiral amines led us to investigate the use of VAPOL-derived catalysts A comparison of catalysts prepared from BINOL, 6,6'-dibromoBINOL and VAPOL ligands on the asymmetric induction in the reaction of the phenyl-substituted imine 1 and acetal 2 is summarized in [2] The VAPOL catalyst could be prepared in either methylene chloride or toluene, but for solubility reasons, the BINOL catalysts were prepared in methylene chloride. The VAPOL and Br 2 BINOL catalysts were superior to the BINOL catalyst at À 45 8C. The asymmetric induction dropped for the Br 2 BINOL catalyst when the temperature was raised from À 45 8C to room temperature, but curiously, the asymmetric induction for the VAPOL catalyst was essentially unchanged over this same temperature range. Only a small drop-off is noted (85 % ee) when the temperature is raised to 41 8C and the substrate-to-catalyst ratio is raised to 200:1 (entry 5). Both the R enantiomers of BINOL and Br 2 BINOL ligands give the R enantiomer of the product 3, whereas with the VAPOL ligand, it is the S enantiomer that gives the R product. This reversal is not unexpected given the structures of the ligands where the zirconium is in the minor groove of the BINOL ligands and in the major groove of the VAPOL ligand. [2g] It is clear from the examination of space-filling CPK models that it is possible to bind two VAPOL ligands to one zirconium atom but only with a facial arrangement of the four oxygen atoms as is illustratred by structure 6 in Scheme 1. This is supported by 1 H NMR experiments on a catalyst generated from zirconium tetraisopropoxide and VAPOL in the presence of two equivalents of N-methyl imidiazole. A clean spectrum is only observed with two equivalents of VAPOL relative to zirconium and the spectrum is consistent with a single C 2 -symmetrical species were performed by using the TEXSAN [13] crystallographic software package. Crystallographic data (excluding structure factors) for the structure reported in this paper have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre as supplementary publication no. CCDC-153832. Copies of the data can be obtained free of charge on application to CCDC