The structural basis of action of vanadyl (VO2+) chelates in cells

In efforts to promote improved development of VO2+-chelates for therapeutic purposes, we propose synergism of a reagent with insulin as a criterion for evaluating physiological and biochemical specificity of action. We highlight two organic compounds that exhibit synergism with insulin in cellular assays. Interestingly, the only VO2+-chelate for which this property has been demonstrated, thus far, is VO(acac)2.