In early studies, we have reported the antinociceptive profile of (-)-
spectaline, a
piperidine alkaloid from Cassia spectabilis. The present study describes the synthesis, the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of a series of 2,3,6-trialkyl-piperidine
alkaloids: the natural (-)-3-O-acetyl-spectaline (LASSBio-755) and ten semi-synthetic
spectaline derivatives. Structure-activity relationship (SARs) studies were performed. The structures of all synthesized derivatives were confirmed by means of nuclear magnetic resonance. Compounds were evaluated for their
analgesic (
acetic acid-induced mouse abdominal constrictions, hot-plate test,
formalin-induced
pain test) and some of them for the anti-inflammatory activities (
carrageenan-induced rat paw
edema test). The pharmacological results showed that several of the new compounds given orally at a dose of 100 micromol/kg significantly inhibited the
acetic acid-induced abdominal constrictions, but they were less active than (-)-
spectaline. LASSBio-755 and LASSBio-776 were the most actives with 37% and 31.7% of inhibition. In the
formalin-induced
pain only LASSBio-776 was able to inhibit by 34.4% the paw licking response of the inflammatory phase, (-)-
spectaline and LASSBio-755 did show any activity. In the
carrageenan-induced rat paw
edema, only (-)-
spectaline exhibited an anti-inflammatory profile, showing an ED(50) value of 56.6 micromol/kg. Our results suggest different mechanisms of action for the
analgesic activity observed for LASSBio-776 (3-O-Boc-spectaline), LASSBio-755 (3-O-acetyl-spectaline) and (-)-
spectaline (LASSBio-754). The antinociceptive profile of some of the semi-synthetic
spectaline derivatives extends our research concerning the chemical and pharmacological optimization of isolated natural products in the search of new
drug candidates from Brazilian biodiversity.