Effect of gambierol and its tetracyclic and heptacyclic analogues in cultured cerebellar neurons: a structure-activity relationships study.

The polycyclic ether class of marine natural products has attracted the attention of researchers due to their complex and large chemical structures and diverse biological activities. Gambierol is a marine polycyclic ether toxin, first isolated along with ciguatoxin congeners from the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus. The parent compound gambierol and the analogues evaluated in this work share the main crucial elements for biological activity, previously described to be the C28═C29 double bond within the H ring and the unsaturated side chain [Fuwa, H., Kainuma, N., Tachibana, K., Tsukano, C., Satake, M., and Sasaki, M. (2004) Diverted total synthesis and biological evaluation of gambierol analogues: Elucidation of crucial structural elements for potent toxicity. Chem. Eur. J.10, 4894−4909]. With the aim to gain a deeper understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in the biological activity of these compounds, we compared its activity in primary cultured neurons. The three compounds inhibited volt...