Understanding ligands driven mechanism of wild and mutant aryl hydrocarbon receptor in presence of phytochemicals combating Parkinson's disease: an in silico and in vivo study.

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) is a key player to regulate the expression of a group of enzymes known as cytochrome P450s (CYPs) super family (CYP1A1, CYP1B1, CYP2B6, and CYP2E1) which metabolites diverse endogenous as well as toxic compounds such as Benzo[a] Pyrene (B[a] P) and TCDD. B[a] P induces oxidative stress and causes degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain, may leads to Parkinson's disease (PD). The metabolism of B[a] P through the expression of CYPs is mainly triggered after binding of B[a] P within ligand binding domain of AhR. But, the molecular mechanism of AhR mediated xenobiotic metabolism in presence of diverse phytochemicals is yet to be studied. The solved AhR (PDB ID: 5NJ8, 23-273aa) structure lacks information for ligand binding domain therefore both wild type and mutant models were predicted and screened virtually against sixty one natural compounds. The result proposed withaferin A, withanolide A, withanolide B, withanolide D and withanone of plant Withania Somnifera as efficient ligand against both wild type and mutants (V381A and V381D) AhR models. However, in silico studies hypothesised withanolide A as a potent phytochemical to trigger the AhR mediated gene regulation activity of CYPs. The in vivo study in zebra fish model proposed about the neuro protective role of W. Somnifera leaf extract in presence of B[a]P. The present study would throw lights on the molecular mechanism of phytochemicals mediated AhR activity which may be useful in treatment of PD. [Formula: see text] Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Identification of Suitable Natural Inhibitor against Influenza A (H1N1) Neuraminidase Protein by Molecular Docking.

The influenza A (H1N1) virus, also known as swine flu is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality since 2009. There is a need to explore novel anti-viral drugs for overcoming the epidemics. Traditionally, different plant extracts of garlic, ginger, kalmegh, ajwain, green tea, turmeric, menthe, tulsi, etc. have been used as hopeful source of prevention and treatment of human influenza. The H1N1 virus contains an important glycoprotein, known as neuraminidase (NA) that is mainly responsible for initiation of viral infection and is essential for the life cycle of H1N1. It is responsible for sialic acid cleavage from glycans of the infected cell. We employed amino acid sequence of H1N1 NA to predict the tertiary structure using Phyre2 server and validated using ProCheck, ProSA, ProQ, and ERRAT server. Further, the modelled structure was docked with thirteen natural compounds of plant origin using AutoDock4.2. Most of the natural compounds showed effective inhibitory activity against H1N1 NA in binding condition. This study also highlights interaction of these natural inhibitors with amino residues of NA protein. Furthermore, among 13 natural compounds, theaflavin, found in green tea, was observed to inhibit H1N1 NA proteins strongly supported by lowest docking energy. Hence, it may be of interest to consider theaflavin for further in vitro and in vivo evaluation.