Journal Article

Metal based donepezil analogues designed to inhibit human acetylcholinesterase for Alzheimer’s disease

Ullah, M. Obayed, Hossain, Md. Kamal, Junaid, Md, Islam, Nazrul, Halim, Mohammad A.

2019

Overview

Among neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common disorders showing slow progressive cognitive decline. Targeting acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is one of the major strategies for AD therapeutics, as cholinergic pathways in the cerebral cortex and basal forebrain are compromised. Herein, we report the design of some copper and other metal based donepezil derivatives, employing density functional theory (DFT). All designed compounds are optimized at the B3LYP/SDD level of theory. Dipole moments, electronic energie, enthalpies, Gibbs free energies, and HOMO-LUMO gaps of these modified compounds are also investigated in the subsequent analysis. The molecules were then subjected to molecular docking analysis with AChE to study the molecular interactions broadly. Ensemble based docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the best candidates were also performed. Docking and MD simulation reveal that modified drugs are more potent than unmodified donepezil, where Trp86, Tyr337, Phe330 residues play some important roles in drug-receptor interactions. According to ensemble based docking, D9 shows greater binding affinity compared to the parent in most conformations obtained from protein data bank and MD simulation. In addition, it is observed that the π- π stacking with the residues of Trp86, Tyr337, Tyr341, Tyr124 and Trp286 may be required for strong ligand binding. Moreover, ADME/T analysis suggests that modified derivatives are less toxic and have improved pharmacokinetic properties than those of the parent drug. These results further confirm the ability of metal-directed drugs to bind simultaneously to the active sites of AChE and support them as potential candidates for the future treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Acetylcholinesterase / Acetylcholinesterase - chemistry / Advertising executives / Alzheimer Disease / Alzheimer's disease / Banks (Finance) / Basal forebrain / Binding / Binding sites / Biology and Life Sciences / Brain / Carboplatin / Cerebral cortex / Chemistry / Cholinesterase Inhibitors - chemistry / Cholinesterase Inhibitors - pharmacokinetics / Cognitive ability / Copper / Crystal structure / Data banks / Density functional theory / Derivatives / Design / Development and progression / Dipole moments / Disease / Disorders / Donepezil / Donepezil - analogs & derivatives / Donepezil - chemistry / Donepezil - pharmacokinetics / Dosage and administration / Drug Design / Drug therapy / Drugs / Enthalpy / Forebrain / GPI-Linked Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors / GPI-Linked Proteins - chemistry / Humans / Ligands / Medical treatment / Medicine and Health Sciences / Metals / Metals - chemistry / Metals - pharmacokinetics / Molecular docking / Molecular Docking Simulation / Molecular dynamics / Molecular Dynamics Simulation / Molecular interactions / Molecular orbitals / Neurodegenerative diseases / Pharmaceutical sciences / Pharmacokinetics / Pharmacology / Physical Sciences / Proteins / Research and Analysis Methods / Residues / Simulation / Studies / Therapeutics