Known compounds in this class include S-phenylocazolidine-2,4-dione, which is often reported as an intermediate for certain 5-lactam antibacterial agents Sheehan, U. Patent 3,, and as an anticonvulsant Brink and Freeman, J. France, pp. In the work on which the present invention is based, it has been discovered, as will be explained in more detail below, that some of these compounds also have hypoglycemic activity.
In contrast, one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, namely 5- 2-chloromethoxyphenyl oxazolidine-2,4-dione, shows no anticonvulsant activity, as determined by pentylenetetrazole or electroshock. Furthermore, no antidepressant activity has been observed for this compound.
Rather, at doses greater than those at which it has hypoglycemic activity, it has been shown to have depressive activity. The hypoglycemic activity determined for known 5-aryloxazolidine-2,4-diones has been summarized in Table 1. The biomethodology applied to these determinations is described in detail below. Table 1A Hypoglycemic activity of known oxazolidine-2,4-diones in glucose tolerance tests in rats.
D King and Clark-Lewis, J. S5, pp. E Najer oa, Bull. Oxazolidine-2,4-dione and substituted oxazolidine-2,4-diones especially the 5-methyl and 5,5-dimethyl derivatives have been reported as acid components suitable for the preparation of the acid addition salts of the hypoglycemic, basic biguanidines Shapiro and Freedman.
I V Recently, a group of spiro-oxazolidine-2,4-A-dione derivatives have been reported to be aldose reductase inhibitors and consequently useful in the treatment of certain complications of diabetes Schnur, U. Another recently published U. A It is assumed that the high activity of these compounds is mainly found in the compounds in which R is hydrogen, and that the compounds in which R is a carbonyl derivative according to the above definition represent so-called prodrugs, i.
