Design, synthesis and mechanistic study of novel diarylpyrazole derivatives as anti-inflammatory agents with reduced cardiovascular side effects

Novel diarylpyrazole (5a-d, 6a-e, 12, 13, 14, 15a-c and 11a-g) derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their dual COX-2/sEH inhibitory activities via recombinant enzyme assays to explore their anti-inflammatory activities and cardiovascular safety profiles. Comprehensively, the structures of the synthesized compounds were established via spectral and elemental analyses, followed by the assessment of both their in vitro COX inhibitory and in vivo anti-inflammatory activities. The most active compounds as COX inhibitors were further evaluated for their in vitro 5-LOX and sEH inhibitory activities, alongside with their in vivo analgesic and ulcerogenic effects. Compounds 6d and 11f showed excellent inhibitory activities against both COX-2 and sEH (COX-2 IC50 = 0.043 and 0.048 µM; sEH IC50 = 83.58 and 83.52 μM, respectively). Moreover, the compounds demonstrated promising results as anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents with considerable ED50 values and gastric safety profiles. Remarkably, the most active COX inhibitors 6d and 11f possessed improved cardiovascular safety profiles, if compared to celecoxib, as shown by the laboratory evaluation of both essential cardiac biochemical parameters (troponin-1, prostacyclin, tumor necrosis factor-α, lactate dehydrogenase, reduced glutathione and creatine kinase-M) and histopathological studies. On the other hand, docking simulations confirmed that the newly synthesized compounds displayed sufficient structural features required for binding to the target COX-2 and sEH enzymes. Also, in silico ADME studies prediction and drug-like properties of the compounds revealed favorable oral bioavailability results. Collectively, the present work could be featured as a promising future approach towards novel selective COX-2 inhibitors with declined cardiovascular risks.