Inhibition of Adipogenesis by Thiourea Derivatives

Obesity is one of the major health problems with inherent risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, CVDs, etc. Adipogenesis is a major contributor in the process of obesity. Inhibition of adipocytes differentiation is one of the key approaches to treat obesity.

To discover the new inhibitors of adipogenesis as the treatment for obesity.

We describe here, the synthesis, and anti-adipogenic activity of thiourea derivatives 1-14. These derivatives were synthesized by the reactions of phenyl and pentafluorophenyl isothiocyanate with different aromatic amines. Pure compounds 1-14 were evaluated for their in vitro antiadipogenesis activity employing 3T3-L1 cells lines.

Compounds 1-3, 5-9, and 11-14 significantly inhibited the pre-adipocyte differentiation into adipocytes, which was measured by staining the cells, and through morphological examination. Compound 10 (1-(4"-Chlorophenyl)-3-(pentafluorophenyl)-thiourea) showed a potent inhibition of adipocyte differentiation with IC50 = 740.00 ± 2.36 nM, which was more potent than the standards, epigallocatechin gallate (IC50 = 16.73 ± 1.34 μM), and curcumin (IC50 = 18.62 ± 0.74 μM). All other compounds showed a moderate to weak anti-adipogenesis activity. Compounds 1- 14 were also evaluated for their cytotoxicity. Compounds 3, 10, and 14 showed some toxicity to the cancer cell lines, while compounds 2, 3, 10, 12, and 14 showed a moderate to weak cytotoxicity against the normal cell lines.

All the compounds reported in this paper are known, except compound 11. They have been identified as new inhibitors of Adipogenesis. Adipogenesis is the process of adipocytes differentiation from pre-adipocytes. This extensively studied model of cell diff differentiation. Further synthetic modifications, and optimization of anti-adipogenic activity may lead to the development of anti-obesity agents.