Scientists create new type of hydrogen sulfide donor molecules

EUGENE, Ore., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A team of researchers from the University of Oregon have created a new class of hydrogen sulfide donor molecules that may be used to reduce cell damage.

Researchers were able to program a molecule with the potential to heal stressed cells to treat many different types of disease.

The team designed organic molecules that break down to release hydrogen sulfide, which is triggered by increased oxidative stress. Oxidative stress causes damage to cells and is linked to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Hydrogen sulfide is produced in humans to promote molecular signaling and cardiac health. Scientists have been trying to generate restorative hydrogen sulfide in the body for many years.

"We have discovered that small organic molecules can be engineered to release a molecule called carbonyl sulfide, which is the most prevalent sulfur-containing molecule in the atmosphere, but more importantly converts rapidly to hydrogen sulfide under biological conditions," Michael Pluth, professor of chemistry and co-author of the study, said in a press release. "We developed and demonstrated a new mechanism to release small molecules that provide therapeutic hydrogen sulfide."

In 2013, researchers in Pluth's lab developed a probe that detects the gas in biological samples, providing a framework to test potential donor molecules, either synthetically or isolated from natural products.

"To do that we need to develop new chemistry," Pluth said. "We are synthetic chemists. We make molecules with the goal of developing new research tools or therapeutic tools. As for treating a disease, we aren't there yet, but these cell-based studies suggest that those types of protective effects might be possible."

Pluth explained that during a heart attack, increased levels of reactive oxygen species like hydrogen peroxide emerge. Current hydrogen sulfide donors are slow-release molecules that donate hydrogen sulfide slowly, but the new donor molecules the researchers developed are programmed to react to the over-expression of reactive oxygen species.

"The novelty for us was being able to use carbonyl sulfide as a source of hydrogen sulfide donation," Andrea Steiger, doctoral student and lead author of the study, said in a press release. " This was a first. It opened up a whole new class of donor molecules."

The study was published in Angewandte Chemie.