Establishment of the method for screening the potential targets and effective components of huatuo reconstruction pill.

Huatuo reconstruction pill (HTRP) is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription that mainly treats for hemiplegia and postoperation of brain stroke. Existing pharmacological studies have previously shown that HTRP could inhibit in vitro thrombosis, delay platelet adhesion, dilate blood vessels, and improve the microcirculation disturbances. In this paper, we chiefly concerned about the potential targets of HTRP and tried to figure out the active components of it. Computer-aided drug design method was emploied to search for the active components and explain the mechanism between the targets and the small molecules at molecular lever. The potential targets of this compound pharmaceutics were searched through relevant pharmacological studies and three pharmacophore models which involved the platelet activating factor (PAF) receptor, the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor (5-HT2A) were constructed by Discotech method of Sybyl. Thus, the candidate compounds which agreed with the pharmacophore models were obtained by the virtual screening to the known ingredients of HTRP. Based on that, sequence and structure prediction of the unknown targets were realized by homology modeling which were used for molecular docking with those candidate compounds. Results showed that three compounds, which may prove to be valid to these targets, got higher scores than the existing corresponding inhibitors after molecular docking, including ferulic acid, onjixanthone I and albiflorin. And the three molecules may refer to the singificant substances to the total compounds of HTRP which were effective to the disease.

Characterization of a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) expansin gene, TaEXPB23, involved in the abiotic stress response and phytohormone regulation.

Expansins are proteins that are generally accepted to be key regulators of cell wall extension and plant growth. We examined the expression pattern of TaEXPB23, a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) expansin gene, under exogenous phytohormone and abiotic stress treatments. In addition, we evaluated its function in the tolerance to salt stress and high temperature (HT) by overexpressing it in transgenic tobacco plants. In subcellular localization assays, TaEXPB23 localized to the cell wall. Expression analysis demonstrated that the transcription pattern of TaEXPB23 corresponded to wheat coleoptile growth. Real-time RT-PCR analysis revealed that TaEXPB23 transcript expression was upregulated by exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salt stress, but downregulated by exogenous gibberellins (GA3), ethylene (ET), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and α-naphthlcetic acid (NAA). Overexpression of TaEXPB23 in tobacco (tabacum) conferred tolerance to salt stress by enhancing water retention ability (WRA) and decreasing osmotic potential (OP). However, transgenic plants overexpressing TaEXPB23 did not show any improvement in the tolerance to HT stress. These results suggested that TaEXPB23 is regulated by phytohormones and is involved in the regulation of salt stress tolerance.

Virtual screening for natural product inhibitors of HIV-1 integrase.

Since there is no human homolog of this enzyme, HIV-1 integrase (IN) represents a rational and important target for treating HIV infection and preventing AIDS. The 3D structure of full-length HIV-1 IN, either separately or in complex with its inhibitors, has been lacking. Thus, scarce information about the interactions between the HIV-1 IN and its inhibitors can be referenced. To more rationally design potent HIV-1 IN inhibitors, we have previously constructed a model of the full-length HIV-1 IN tetramer and a model of the protein-viral DNA complex, as well as the pharmacophore model of HIV-1 IN strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs). In this paper, the pharmacophore model of INSTIs was used as a 3D query to screen the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database (TCMD). The hit compounds were further filtered by Lipinski's Rule of Five and docking study to refine the retrieved hits. Finally, 9 suitable ligands with similar structures belonging to the thioglycosides were selected. Subsequent molecular dynamics simulation showed that these compounds had interactions with HIV-1 IN binding site and their possible function as IN inhibitors was discussed.

Agaritine and its derivatives are potential inhibitors against HIV proteases.

Agaritine, or beta-N-[gamma-L(+)-glutamyl]-4-hydroxymethylphenylhydrazine, is a Chinese herbal medicine, known having the antiviral and anticancer function. However, so far no reports whatsoever have been made for its potential as an anti-HIV agent. It was observed by docking experiments for more than 9,000 compounds extracted from various Chinese medicines that the compound agaritine distinguished itself from all the others in binding to the HIV protease with the most favorable free energy. Based on this, a series of derivatives were generated by modifying agaritine. It has been observed thru an extensive docking study that some of agaritine derivatives had markedly stronger binding interaction with the HIV protease than agaritine, suggesting that these derivatives might be good candidates for developing drugs for AIDS therapy.

[Screening of new HIV inhibitors based on the database of traditional Chinese medicine].

AIM: To report the preliminary result of the HIV inhibitor screening based on cheminformatics tools and the traditional Chinese medicine database. METHODS: Database search was carried out with saquinavir molecule as a template, further screening was made with docking. Detailed studies using molecular dynamics simulation of 50 ps and 200 ps were made with respect to a potential leading compound, leucovorin. RESULTS: The leucovorin molecule distinguished from other molecules as a potential drug candidate and is subject to extensive studies. The bonding profile and energy were calculated with MD simulations. CONCLUSION: Our results could be very helpful when we modify leucovorin or design new inhibitors against HIV.