A series of vincamine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated as pancreatic β-cells protective agents for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Most of the compounds displayed potent pancreatic β-cells protective activities and five derivatives were found to exhibit 20-50-fold higher activities than vincamine. Especially for compounds Vin-C01 and Vin-F03, exhibited a remarkable EC50 value of 0.22 μM and 0.27 μM, respectively. Their pancreatic β-cells protective activities increased approximately 2 times than vincamine. In cell viability assay, compounds Vin-C01 and Vin-F03 could effectively promote β-cell survival and protect β-cells from STZ-induced apoptosis. Further cellular mechanism of action studies demonstrated that their potent β-cells protective activities were achieved by regulating IRS2/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The present study evidently showed that compounds Vin-C01 and Vin-F03 were two more potent pancreatic β-cells protective agents compared to vincamine and might serve as promising lead candidates for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

中文翻译：

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长春胺衍生物作为治疗2型糖尿病的潜在胰岛β细胞保护剂的设计，合成和生物学评估。

设计，合成和评估了一系列长春胺衍生物，作为2型糖尿病的胰腺β细胞保护剂。大多数化合物显示出有效的胰岛β细胞保护活性，并且发现五种衍生物表现出比长春胺高20至50倍的活性。特别是对于化合物Vin-C01和Vin-F03，其EC50值分别为0.22μM和0.27μM。它们的胰岛β细胞保护活性是长春胺的约2倍。在细胞活力测定中，化合物Vin-C01和Vin-F03可以有效地促进β细胞存活并保护β细胞免于STZ诱导的细胞凋亡。进一步的细胞作用机制研究表明，通过调节IRS2 / PI3K / Akt信号通路可以实现强大的β细胞保护活性。