Lipid accumulation inhibitory activities of novel isoxazole-based chenodeoxycholic acids: Design, synthesis and preliminary mechanism study

Abstract In continuation of our drug discovery program on hyperlipidemia, a series of novel isoxazole-chenodeoxycholic acid hybrids were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their lipid-lowering effects. Preliminary screening of all the synthesized compounds was done by using a 3T3-L1 adipocyte model, in which the most active compound 16b could significantly reduce the lipid accumulation up to 30.5% at a nontoxic concentration 10 μM. Further mechanism studies revealed that 16b blocked lipid accumulation via activating FXR-SHP signaling pathway, efficiently down-regulated the expression of key lipogenesis regulator SREBP-1c.