7,8-dihydroxyflavone

7,8-Dihydroxyflavone

Clinical data
ATC code	None
Identifiers
IUPAC name 7,8-Dihydroxy-2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-one
CAS Number	38183-03-8
PubChem CID	1880
ChemSpider	1809
ECHA InfoCard	100.048.903
Chemical and physical data
Formula	C15H10O4
Molar mass	254.238 g/mol
3D model (Jmol)	Interactive image
SMILES c1ccc(cc1)c2cc(=O)c3ccc(c(c3o2)O)O
InChI InChI=1S/C15H10O4/c16-11-7-6-10-12(17)8-13(19-15(10)14(11)18)9-4-2-1-3-5-9/h1-8,16,18H Key:COCYGNDCWFKTMF-UHFFFAOYSA-N

7,8-Dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF) is a naturally occurring flavone found in Godmania aesculifolia, Tridax procumbens, and primula tree leaves. It has been found to act as a potent and selective small-molecule agonist of the TrkB receptor (K_d ≈ 320 nM), the main signaling receptor of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). 7,8-DHF is both orally-bioavailable and able to penetrate the blood-brain-barrier.

7,8-DHF has demonstrated remarkable therapeutic efficacy in animal models of a variety of central nervous system disorders, including depression,Alzheimer's disease,cognitive deficits in schizophrenia,Parkinson's disease,Huntington's disease,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,traumatic brain injury,cerebral ischemia,fragile X syndrome, and Rett syndrome. 7,8-DHF also shows efficacy in animal models of age-associated cognitive impairment and enhances memory consolidation and emotional learning in healthy rodents. In addition, 7,8-DHF possesses powerful antioxidant activity independent of its actions on the TrkB receptor, and protects against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity,6-hydroxydopamine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity, and oxidative stress-induced genotoxicity. It was also found to block methamphetamine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity, an effect which, in contrast to the preceding, was found to be TrkB-dependent.