Trying to treat interdependent diseases can be tricky, but not when one drug is capable of dealing with both.
Overproduction of angiotensin II by the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) leads to hypertension, which is associated with cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, heart failure, coronary artery disease and kidney failure. Hypertension has also been shown to play a role in oxidative stress, the imbalance of oxidants and antioxidants. A drug that could treat both conditions would be of serious value to the medical community, and now researchers from the Indian Institute of Sciences have just synthesised a compound that shows the potential for doing just that.
Bhaskar Bhuyan and Govindasamy Mugesh synthesised several selenium analogues of the common ACE inhibitor, Captopril and demonstrated that not only were they capable of enzyme inhibition but also acted as antioxidants, scavenging peroxynitrite – the highly reactive intermediate known to cause cellular damage.
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Synthesis, characterization and antioxidant activity of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors
Bhaskar J. Bhuyan and Govindasamy Mugesh
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 1356-1365
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00823k
