Role of JAK/STAT3 Signaling in Functional Stimulation of Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells with Alkaloid Songorine

A review: Pharmacokinetics and pharmacology of aminoalcohol-diterpenoid alkaloids from Aconitum species

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Aconitum medicinal materials, such as Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux (Chinese: Wutou/) and Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb. (Chinese: Caowu/), are a kind of important Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with great medicinal value. Statistics show that there are over 600 efficient TCM formulations comprising Aconitum medicinal materials. But high toxicity limits their clinical application. Clinically, the Aconitum medicinal materials must undergo a complex processing process that includes soaking, steaming, and boiling with pharmaceutical excipients, which makes highly toxic ester diterpenoid alkaloids are hydrolyzed to form less toxic aminoalcohol-diterpenoid alkaloids (ADAs).

AIM OF THE STUDY

This review aims to summarize the pharmacokinetic and pharmacological activities of low-toxicity ADAs, providing a reference for future ADAs research and drug development.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Accessible literature on ADAs published between 1984 and 2022 were screened and obtained from available electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Springer, Science Direct and Google Scholar, followed by systematic analysis.

RESULTS

ADAs are secondary products of plant metabolism, widely distributed in the Aconitum species and Delphinium species. The toxicity of ADAs as pharmacodynamic components of Aconitum medicinal materials is much lower than that of other diterpenoid alkaloids due to the absence of ester bonds. On the one hand, the pharmacokinetics of ADAs have received little attention compared to other toxic alkaloids. The research primarily focuses on aconine and mesaconine. According to existing studies, ADAs absorption in the gastrointestinal tract is primarily passive with a short T_max. Simultaneously, efflux transporters have less impact on ADAs absorption than non-ADAs. After entering the body, ADAs are widely distributed in the heart, liver, lungs, and kidney, but less in the brain. Notably, aconine is not well metabolized by liver microsomes. Aconine and mesaconine are excreted in urine and feces, respectively. ADAs, on the other hand, have been shown to have a variety of pharmacological activities, including cardiac, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant, and regenerative effects via regulating multiple signaling pathways, including Nrf2/ARE, PERK/eIF2α/ATF4/Chop, ERK/CREB, NF-κB, Bcl-2/Bax, and GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathways.

CONCLUSIONS

ADAs have been shown to have beneficial effects on heart disease, neurological disease, and other systemic diseases. Moreover, ADAs have low toxicity and a wide range of safe doses. All of these suggest that ADAs have great potential for drug development.

A systematic review of pharmacological activities, toxicological mechanisms and pharmacokinetic studies on Aconitum alkaloids

The tubers and roots of Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) are widely used as heart medicine or analgesic agents for the treatment of coronary heart disease, chronic heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis and neuropathic pain since ancient times. As a type of natural products mainly extracted from Aconitum plants, Aconitum alkaloids have complex chemical structures and exert remarkable biological activity, which are mainly responsible for significant effects of Aconitum plants. The present review is to summarize the progress of the pharmacological, toxicological, and pharmacokinetic studies of Aconitum alkaloids, so as to provide evidence for better clinical application. Research data concerning pharmacological, toxicological and pharmacokinetic studies of Aconitum alkaloids were collected from different scientific databases (PubMed, CNKI, Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, and Web of Science) using the phrase Aconitum alkaloids, as well as generic synonyms. Aconitum alkaloids are both bioactive compounds and toxic ingredients in Aconitum plants. They produce a wide range of pharmacological activities, including protecting the cardiovascular system, nervous system, and immune system and anti-cancer effects. Notably, Aconitum alkaloids also exert strong cardiac toxicity, neurotoxicity and liver toxicity, which are supported by clinical studies. Finally, pharmacokinetic studies indicated that cytochrome P450 proteins (CYPs) and efflux transporters (ETs) are closely related to the low bioavailability of Aconitum alkaloids and play an important role in their metabolism and detoxification in vivo.

Intracellular signaling molecules of nerve tissue progenitors as pharmacological targets for treatment of ethanol-induced neurodegeneration

OBJECTIVES

The development of approaches to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases caused by alcohol abuse by targeted pharmacological regulation of intracellular signaling transduction of progenitor cells of nerve tissue is promising. We studied peculiarities of participation of NF-кB-, сАМР/РКА-, JAKs/STAT3-, ERK1/2-, p38-pathways in the regulation of neural stem cells (NSC) and neuronal-committed progenitors (NCP) in the simulation of ethanol-induced neurodegeneration in vitro and in vivo.

METHODS

In vitro, the role of signaling molecules (NF-кB, сАМР, РКА, JAKs, STAT3, ERK1/2, p38) in realizing the growth potential of neural stem cells (NSC) and neuronal-committed progenitors (NCP) in ethanol-induced neurodegeneration modeled in vitro and in vivo was studied. To do this, the method of the pharmacological blockade with the use of selective inhibitors of individual signaling molecules was used.

RESULTS

Several of fundamental differences in the role of certain intracellular signaling molecules (SM) in proliferation and specialization of NSC and NCP have been revealed. It has been shown that the effect of ethanol on progenitors is accompanied by the formation of a qualitatively new pattern of signaling pathways. Data have been obtained on the possibility of stimulation of nerve tissue regeneration in ethanol-induced neurodegeneration by NF-кB and STAT3 inhibitors. It has been found that the blockage of these SM stimulates NSC and NCP in conditions of ethanol intoxication and does not have a «negative» effect on the realization of the growth potential of intact progenitors (which will appear de novo during therapy).

CONCLUSIONS

The results may serve as a basis for the development of fundamentally new drugs to the treatment of alcoholic encephalopathy and other diseases of the central nervous system associated with alcohol abuse.

Role of VHL-JAK-STAT signaling pathway in central nervous system hemangioblastoma associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease

INTRODUCTION

Central nervous system hemangioblastoma is a benign tumor associated with or without von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease which is an autosomal dominant hereditary disease that results from a germline mutation in the VHL gene. A main axis of signaling pathways in central nervous system hemangioblastoma is VHL-HIF signaling pathway. Here, we propose an alternative VHL-JAK-STAT signaling pathway in hemangioblastoma and discuss the role.

METHODS

Using MACS method, Scl⁺ hemangioblast-like cells were isolated from multipotent nestin-expressing stem cells. Then, ubiquitination of JAK2 in those cells and immunoprecipitation between JAK2 and VHL were examined. Then, expressions of JAK2 and STAT3 in those cells and expressions of VHL-associated hemangioblastoma tissues were examined. In addition, the VHL genes of patients bearing hemangioblastoma were analyzed.

RESULTS

JAK2 and STAT3 in Scl⁺ hemangioblast-like cells were ubiquitinated after VHL- expression vector was transferred to those cells. Expressions of JAK2 and STAT3 in those cells were well recognized before the transfer, but those disappeared after the transfer. Expressions of both JAK2 and STAT3 in hemangioblastoma tissues were well shown. The VHL gene analysis revealed that patients bearing hemangioblastoma carried missense mutations in 5, small deletions in 2, large deletions in 4, and nonsense mutation in 1 CONCLUSIONS: VHL-JAK-STAT signaling pathway might play an important role in proliferation, angiogenesis, and maintenance of stem-cell-nature in hemangioblastoma as an alternative signaling pathway to supplement VHL-HIF signaling pathway.

Specific Roles of JAKs and STAT3 in Functions of Neural Stem Cells and Committed Neuronal Progenitors during Ethanol-Induced Neurodegeneration

Peculiar roles of JAKs and STAT3 in realization of growth potential of various types of progenitor cells in neural tissue were examined during ethanol-induced neurodegeneration modeled both in vitro and in vivo. During in vitro action of C₂H₅OH, these signal molecules exerted the opposite effects on mitotic activity of multipotent neural stem cells and committed neural progenitors (the clonogenic PSA-NCAM⁺ cells). The JAKs and STAT3 inhibitors down-regulated the rate of neural stem cell division (proliferative activity) but up-regulated such activity of the committed neural progenitors. A long-term in vivo exposure of mice to ethanol inversed the roles of JAKs and STAT3 in determination of proliferative status of neural stem cells and eliminated involvement of JAKs in functional control over the committed progenitors of neurons. The data attest to much promise of STAT3 inhibitors in treatment of ethanol-induced CNS diseases as the remedies that stimulate realization of growth potential in multipotent neural stem cells and committed neural progenitors.