The antimalarial agents NAS-91 and NAS-21 were found to express potent antimycobacterial activity, NAS-91 being more active than NAS-21. They partially inhibited mycolic acid biosynthesis and profoundly altered oleic acid production. The development of a cell-free assay for Delta 9-desaturase activity allowed direct demonstration of the inhibition of oleic acid biosynthesis by these compounds.
Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Université de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France.