The risk of the use of toxic chemicals for unlawful acts has been a matter of concern for different governments and multilateral agencies. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversees the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), considering recent events employing chemical warfare agents as means of assassination, has recently included in the CWC "Annex on Chemicals" some organophosphorus compounds that are regarded as acting in a similar fashion to the classical G- and V-series of nerve agents, inhibiting the pivotal enzyme acetylcholinesterase. Therefore, knowledge of the activity of the pyridinium oximes, the sole class of clinically available acetylcholinesterase reactivators to date, is plainly justified. In this paper, continuing our research efforts in medicinal chemistry on this class of toxic chemicals, we synthesized an A-230 nerve agent surrogate and applied a modified Ellman's assay to evaluate its ability to inhibit our enzymatic model, acetylcholinesterase from Electrophorus eel, and if the clinically available antidotes are able to rescue the enzyme activity for the purpose of relating the findings to the previously disclosed in silico data for the authentic nerve agent and other studies with similar A-series surrogates. Our experimental data indicates that pralidoxime is the most efficient compound for reactivating acetylcholinesterase inhibited by A-230 surrogate, which is the opposite of the in silico data previously disclosed.

• Keywords
• A-230, Acetylcholinesterase, Antidotes, Chemical Weapons Convention, Nerve agent surrogates,
• MeSH
• Acetylcholinesterase * metabolism   MeSH
• Antidotes pharmacology   MeSH
• Chemical Warfare Agents * toxicity   MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors * toxicity   MeSH
• Nerve Agents * toxicity   MeSH
• Organothiophosphorus Compounds toxicity   MeSH
• Oximes * pharmacology   MeSH
• Pralidoxime Compounds pharmacology   MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds * pharmacology   MeSH
• Cholinesterase Reactivators * pharmacology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Acetylcholinesterase * MeSH
• Antidotes MeSH
• Chemical Warfare Agents * MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors * MeSH
• Nerve Agents * MeSH
• Organothiophosphorus Compounds MeSH
• Oximes * MeSH
• pralidoxime MeSH Browser
• Pralidoxime Compounds MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds * MeSH
• Cholinesterase Reactivators * MeSH

The organophosphorus antidotes, so-called oximes, are able to restore the enzymatic function of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) or butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) via cleavage of organophosphate from the active site of the phosphylated enzyme. In this work, the charged pyridinium oximes containing thiocarboxamide moiety were designed, prepared and tested. Their stability and pKa properties were found to be analogous to parent carboxamides (K027, K048 and K203). The inhibitory ability of thiocarboxamides was found in low µM levels for AChE and high µM levels for BChE. Their reactivation properties were screened on human recombinant AChE and BChE inhibited by nerve agent surrogates and paraoxon. One thiocarboxamide was able to effectively restore function of NEMP- and NEDPA-AChE, whereas two thiocarboxamides were able to reactivate BChE inhibited by all tested organophosphates. These results were confirmed by reactivation kinetics, where thiocarboxamides were proved to be effective, but less potent reactivators if compared to carboxamides.

• Keywords
• Cholinesterase, inhibition, organophosphate, oxime, reactivation,
• MeSH
• Acetylcholinesterase metabolism   MeSH
• Butyrylcholinesterase metabolism   MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Molecular Structure MeSH
• Organophosphates chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Oximes chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Sulfhydryl Compounds chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug MeSH
• Structure-Activity Relationship MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Acetylcholinesterase MeSH
• Butyrylcholinesterase MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors MeSH
• Organophosphates MeSH
• Oximes MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds MeSH
• Sulfhydryl Compounds MeSH

The pyridinium-2-carbaldoximes with quinolinium carboxamide moiety were designed and synthesised as cholinesterase reactivators. The prepared compounds showed intermediate-to-high inhibition of both cholinesterases when compared to standard oximes. Their reactivation ability was evaluated in vitro on human recombinant acetylcholinesterase (hrAChE) and human recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (hrBChE) inhibited by nerve agent surrogates (NIMP, NEMP, and NEDPA) or paraoxon. In the reactivation screening, one compound was able to reactivate hrAChE inhibited by all used organophosphates and two novel compounds were able to reactivate NIMP/NEMP-hrBChE. The reactivation kinetics revealed compound 11 that proved to be excellent reactivator of paraoxon-hrAChE better to obidoxime and showed increased reactivation of NIMP/NEMP-hrBChE, although worse to obidoxime. The molecular interactions of studied reactivators were further identified by in silico calculations. Molecular modelling results revealed the importance of creation of the pre-reactivation complex that could lead to better reactivation of both cholinesterases together with reducing particular interactions for lower intrinsic inhibition by the oxime.

• Keywords
• Organophosphate, acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, oxime, reactivator,
• MeSH
• Acetylcholinesterase metabolism   MeSH
• Butyrylcholinesterase metabolism   MeSH
• Quinolinium Compounds chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Molecular Structure MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds chemical synthesis   chemistry   pharmacology   MeSH
• Recombinant Proteins metabolism   MeSH
• Molecular Docking Simulation MeSH
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug MeSH
• Structure-Activity Relationship MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Acetylcholinesterase MeSH
• Butyrylcholinesterase MeSH
• Quinolinium Compounds MeSH
• Cholinesterase Inhibitors MeSH
• Pyridinium Compounds MeSH
• Recombinant Proteins MeSH