An Update on Natural Products with Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitory Activity

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1) catalyze the fundamental reaction of CO2 hydration in all living organisms, being actively involved in the regulation of a plethora of patho/physiological processes. They represent a typical example of enzyme convergent evolution, as six genetically unrelated families of such enzymes were described so far. It is more than 70 years that synthetic compounds, mainly sulfonamides, have been used in clinical practice as diuretics and systemic acting antiglaucoma drugs. Recent studies using natural product libraries and isolated constituents from natural sources (such as fungi and plants) have disclosed novel chemotypes possessing carbonic anhydrase inhibition activities. These natural sources offer new opportunities in the search for new and more effective carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and may serve as new leads for the design and development of future drugs. This review will discuss the most recent advances in the search of naturally occurring products and their synthetic derivatives that inhibit the CAs and their mechanisms of action at molecular level. Plant extracts are not considered in the present review.