Rotenone and degue
lin are the major active ingredients and principa
l components of cubéresin from
Lonchocarpus utilis used as a botanica
l insecticide and piscicide. They are a
lsopotent comp
lex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) inhibitors. Rotenone was known ear
lier,and degue
lin is shown here to induce a Parkinson's disease (PD)-
like syndrome aftersubcutaneous treatment of rats by osmotic minipump. Rotenone at 3 mg/kg/day or degue
lin at6 but not 3 mg/kg/day induces degeneration of the nigrostriata
l dopaminergic pathway, asshown by reduced tyrosine hydroxy
lase immunoreactivity with treatments for 5 or 6 days.The neuropatho
logica
l lesions are associated with a brain
leve
l of parent rotenoid of 0.4-1.3ppm but not with the much sma
ller brain
leve
l of 12a
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
le">-hydroxyrotenoids or other metabo
litesana
lyzed by HPLC and LC/MS. We previous
ly estab
lished that the hydroxy
lated metabo
litesand derivatives of rotenone and degue
lin are a
ll less active (i.e., detoxified) as comp
lex Iinhibitors re
lative to the parent rotenoids. The PD-
like syndrome induced in rats by rotenoneand degue
lin is therefore due to the parent compounds rather than metabo
lites. Degue
lin isabout ha
lf as active as rotenone in inducing the PD-
like syndrome in rats and in acute ip LD
50in mice. Rotenone and degue
lin are metabo
lized by human recombinant 3A4 and 2C19 butnot five other P450 enzymes. 2C19 is more se
lective than 3A4 in forming the 12a
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
le">-hydroxyrotenoids. Identified sites of metabo
lic attack individua
lly or in combination are asfo
llows: 12a
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
le"> hydroxy
lation and 2-
O-demethy
lation of both compounds, oxidation of therotenone isopropeny
l substituent to mono and dio
l derivatives, and probab
le oxidation of thedegue
lin dimethy
lchromene doub
le
bond. These toxico
logica
l features must be considered inusing rotenone, degue
lin, and their ana
logues as pesticides, candidate radioimaging and cancerchemopreventive agents, and mode
ls of PD.