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Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating disease affecting 5% of the world's population and there is no cure. Copper(II) complexes have been reported to have anti-inflammatory activity and alleviate the symptoms associated with the disease. The present study focuses on the design of new drugs tha...

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Main Author: Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
Other Authors: Jackson, Graham E
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Chemistry 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
author2 Jackson, Graham E
author_browse Jackson, Graham E
Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
author_facet Jackson, Graham E
Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
author_sort Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
collection Thesis
description Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating disease affecting 5% of the world's population and there is no cure. Copper(II) complexes have been reported to have anti-inflammatory activity and alleviate the symptoms associated with the disease. The present study focuses on the design of new drugs that could be used to change the bioavailability of copper(II) and hence alleviate the inflammation. The tripeptides, glycyl-L-leucyl-L-histidine (GLH), sarcosyl-L-leucyl-Lhistidine (Sar-LH), glycyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-histidine (GFH) and sarcosyl-L-phenylalanyl-Lhistidine (Sar-FH) were designed to resemble the natural in vivo copper(II) transporter, human serum albumin, so that they could be selective for copper(II). The preferred route of administration is dermal absorption and so sarcosine was added to improve the lipophilicity of the drug. This administration method was chosen since it is both nonharmful and convenient for patients. The stability of the complexes was measured using glass electrode potentiometry and their solution structure studied using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, CW-EPR spectroscopy, 1H NMR, ESI-MS and molecular modelling calculations. The presence of sarcosine did not significantly affect the stability of the complexes. Several species were found to exist in solution depending on the pH, but at pH 7, the CuLH-2 species predominated for all four tripeptides. In this species, the ligand was found to coordinate to copper(II) via the terminal amine-N, the two amide-Ns and imidazole-N, in a square planar geometry. Using a computer model of blood plasma, all four ligands were found to mobilise copper(II), without disrupting the homeostasis of nickel(II), zinc(II) or calcium(II) in the order of GFH > Sar-FH > GLH > Sar-LH. GFH increased the low molecular mass copper(II) species by 40.7 times at 0.1 mM. The lipophilicity of the complexes was estimated by measuring their octanol/water partition coefficients. All the complexes were found to be hydrophilic with log Poct/aq ranging from -3 to -2. Dermal absorption was estimated using an artificial membrane and a Franz cell. Only a moderate increase in membrane permeability of copper(II) was found. The stability of the copper(II) complexes, their ability to mobilise copper(II) from endogenous sources and their improved dermal absorption, justifies further testing of this class of ligand as potential, dermally absorbable, anti-inflammatory drugs.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:43.673Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36156 Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi Jackson, Graham E Bourne, Susan A chemistry Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating disease affecting 5% of the world's population and there is no cure. Copper(II) complexes have been reported to have anti-inflammatory activity and alleviate the symptoms associated with the disease. The present study focuses on the design of new drugs that could be used to change the bioavailability of copper(II) and hence alleviate the inflammation. The tripeptides, glycyl-L-leucyl-L-histidine (GLH), sarcosyl-L-leucyl-Lhistidine (Sar-LH), glycyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-histidine (GFH) and sarcosyl-L-phenylalanyl-Lhistidine (Sar-FH) were designed to resemble the natural in vivo copper(II) transporter, human serum albumin, so that they could be selective for copper(II). The preferred route of administration is dermal absorption and so sarcosine was added to improve the lipophilicity of the drug. This administration method was chosen since it is both nonharmful and convenient for patients. The stability of the complexes was measured using glass electrode potentiometry and their solution structure studied using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, CW-EPR spectroscopy, 1H NMR, ESI-MS and molecular modelling calculations. The presence of sarcosine did not significantly affect the stability of the complexes. Several species were found to exist in solution depending on the pH, but at pH 7, the CuLH-2 species predominated for all four tripeptides. In this species, the ligand was found to coordinate to copper(II) via the terminal amine-N, the two amide-Ns and imidazole-N, in a square planar geometry. Using a computer model of blood plasma, all four ligands were found to mobilise copper(II), without disrupting the homeostasis of nickel(II), zinc(II) or calcium(II) in the order of GFH > Sar-FH > GLH > Sar-LH. GFH increased the low molecular mass copper(II) species by 40.7 times at 0.1 mM. The lipophilicity of the complexes was estimated by measuring their octanol/water partition coefficients. All the complexes were found to be hydrophilic with log Poct/aq ranging from -3 to -2. Dermal absorption was estimated using an artificial membrane and a Franz cell. Only a moderate increase in membrane permeability of copper(II) was found. The stability of the copper(II) complexes, their ability to mobilise copper(II) from endogenous sources and their improved dermal absorption, justifies further testing of this class of ligand as potential, dermally absorbable, anti-inflammatory drugs. 2022-03-17T05:42:38Z 2022-03-17T05:42:38Z 2021 2022-03-17T05:42:15Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36156 eng application/pdf Department of Chemistry Faculty of Science
spellingShingle chemistry
Vicatos, Giselle Marianthi
Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
title_full Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
title_fullStr Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
title_full_unstemmed Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
title_short Development of dermally absorbed copper(ii) complexes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs
title_sort development of dermally absorbed copper ii complexes as potential anti inflammatory drugs
topic chemistry
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36156
work_keys_str_mv AT vicatosgisellemarianthi developmentofdermallyabsorbedcopperiicomplexesaspotentialantiinflammatorydrugs