Papers of the Week

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) and HDAC6 mediate the NF-κB pathway in inflammatory responses, and their inhibitors exhibit powerful anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities in treating both inflammation and pain. Therefore, a series of dual-targeting inhibitors containing urea or squaramide and hydroxamic acid moieties were designed and synthesized, and their role as a new sEH/HDAC6 dual-targeting inhibitor in inflammatory pain was evaluated in a formalin-induced mice model and a xylene-induced mouse ear swelling model. Among them, compounds and showed the best inhibitory and selectivity of sEH and HDAC6. Compound had satisfactory pharmacokinetic characteristics in rats. Following administration at 30 mg/kg, compound exhibited more effective analgesic activity than either an sEH inhibitor () or an HDAC6 inhibitor () alone and coadministration of both inhibitors. Thus, these novel sEH/HDAC6 dual-targeting inhibitors exhibited powerful analgesic activity in nociceptive behavior and are worthy of further development.