Pharmacokinetics and cytoprotective evaluation of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Amide and fluorinated derivatives against oxidative stress

Ischemic injury occurs when the flow of blood is reduced or blocked to an area of the body and can cause significant tissue damage by generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), activation of apoptotic pathways and through induction of the inflammatory response. Restoration of blood flow and reperfusion of the blocked site, while essential, can generate a second injury that itself needs to be controlled. Together the two injuries are termed ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. This type of injury is frequently encountered in medicine and is a major medical problem. Therapeutic strategies to combat I/R injury include the introduction of compounds that can scavenge ROS or can induce metabolic pathways with the effect of inhibiting apoptosis. Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE), a polyphenolic compound found in propolis, has been shown to protect a variety of cells types against ROS in vitro and has also been shown to induce a variety of genes including hemeoxygenase 1 (HMOX-1) , an enzyme that has been implicated in a cytoprotective pathway. Despite showing significant cytoprotection of cells against oxidant stress in vitro, CAPE is readily hydrolyzed in plasma and is also quickly removed from circulation. This result may explain the limited cytoprotective effects of CAPE in vivo. We have synthesized a series of CAPE amide derivatives, including Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Amide (CAPA), with the aim of improving CAPE’s stability properties while maintaining the cytoprotective effects of the parent compound. We found that CAPA, in addition to 2 other amide derivatives, were able to protect human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) against ROS to a similar degree as CAPE. In addition, we have observed significant improvement in plasma stability of CAPA over CAPE at multiple temperatures. The elimination half-life of CAPA from the systemic circulation was also seen to be significantly improved over CAPE following intravenous administration to male Sprague-Dawley rats. The longer residence time of CAPA over CAPE in circulation may potentially result in greater cytoprotection in vivo.