Neuroactivity of the naturally occurring aporphine alkaloid, roemerine
Omer Bayazeid, Emirhan Nemutlu, Cemil Can Eylem, Mert İlhan, Esra Küpeli-Akkol, Hande Karahan, Pelin Kelicen‐Uğur, Tayfun Ersöz, Funda Nuray Yalçın
Abstract
Roemerine is a naturally occurring aporphine alkaloid. In this study, we screened a conformer library of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs to identify similar drugs that can assist in identifying the biological targets of roemerine. To assess the neuroactivity in vitro, we measured the levels of cell metabolites, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and serotonin (5-HT) in SH-SY5Y cell line. By means of structure-based virtual screening, we identified five drugs that are similar to roemerine; mirtazapine, atomoxetine, epinastine, diphenhydramine and orphenadrine. GC-MS metabolomics study revealed that roemerine has a high impact on alanine-aspartate-glutamate pathway in cell lysate and cultured medium. Additionally, roemerine increased intercellular 5-HT level and intracellular BDNF protein expression at 10 µM. In conclusion, roemerine — a major alkaloid in antidepressant-like effect possessing plants (P. lacerum and P. syriacum) — has a neuronal activity through increasing BDNF protein expression and affecting serotonergic and glutamatergic systems in SH-SY5Y cell line.