Nutritional and Volatile Fingerprint Characteristics of an Amazon Fruit: Ficus subapiculata.

Ficus subapiculata is distributed throughout the Amazon region, although its potential for commercial fruit production has not yet been explored. We describe here the chemical and nutritional composition of F. subapiculata fruits and some aspects of the postharvest maturation.

Py-CoMFA, docking, and molecular dynamics simulations of Leishmania (L.) amazonensis arginase inhibitors.

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a protozoan of the genus Leishmania, affecting millions of people, mainly in tropical countries, due to poor social conditions and low economic development. First-line chemotherapeutic agents involve highly toxic pentavalent antimonials, while treatment failure is mainly due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. Leishmania arginase (ARG) enzyme is vital in pathogenicity and contributes to a higher infection rate, thus representing a potential drug target.

Statine-based peptidomimetic compounds as inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 main protease (SARS-CoV‑2 Mpro).

COVID-19 is a multisystemic disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 airborne virus, a member of the Coronaviridae family. It has a positive sense single-stranded RNA genome and encodes two non-structural proteins through viral cysteine-proteases processing. Blocking this step is crucial to control virus replication.

Molecular modelling studies and in vitro enzymatic assays identified A 4-(nitrobenzyl)guanidine derivative as inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro.

Scientists and researchers have been searching for drugs targeting the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, which is crucial for virus replication. This study employed a virtual screening based on molecular docking to identify benzoylguanidines from an in-house chemical library that can inhibit Mpro on the active site and three allosteric sites. Molecular docking was performed on the LaSMMed Chemical Library using 88 benzoylguanidine compounds.

DFT calculations of copper complexes mimicking superoxide dismutase and docking studies and molecular dynamics of the transition metal complex binding to serum albumin.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a metalloenzyme whose antioxidant activity is mimicked by some transition metal complexes, and such ability can be added in proteins such as the bovine serum albumin (BSA), creating a hybrid protein. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) calculations of three Cu(II)-complexes of general formula [CuLphen] (phen = phenanthroline; , L = mefenamate; , L = tolfenamate; , L = flufenamate) with SOD-like activity, and docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of these complexes with the BSA were performed. The DFT calculations revealed that the complex reduction involves Cu(II) → Cu(I) reduction, the theoretical electron affinity (EA) correlated with the SOD-like activity (IC), and the contribution of the phenanthroline ligand and the metal in LUMO it's related with the complex-protein interaction (K).

Molecular modeling of [VO(L)(R)] complexes (R = bipyridine, phenanthroline): DFT study of antioxidant activity, DNA binding and evaluation of electron-donating and -withdrawing substituent groups.

A DFT (density functional theory) study was conducted with eight oxovanadium complexes (C1 - C8) of general formula [VO(L)(R)] (R = bipyridine, phenanthroline; L = group of ligands derived from dithiocarbamate). The obtained geometries showed a good correlation with the experimental structures. Molecular orbital analysis revealed that the contribution of the L-ligand in the SOMO (single-occupied molecular orbital) of the complexes correlated with the experimental antioxidant activity (IC), while the contribution of the R-ligand to the LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) of the complexes correlated with the experimental complex-DNA interaction (K).

Development, validation and analysis of a human profurin 3D model using comparative modeling and molecular dynamics simulations.

The emergence of new viruses can lead to the outbreak of pandemics as occurred at the end of 2019 with the coronavirus disease (or COVID-19). The fastest way to effectively control viral infections is to develop broad-spectrum antivirals that can fight at least an entire class of viruses. Profurin, the furin precursor propeptide, is responsible for the autoactivation step which is crucial for the maturation of several viral substrates.

drug repurposing by combining machine learning classification model and molecular dynamics to identify a potential OGT inhibitor.

O-linked -acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a unique intracellular post-translational glycosylation at the hydroxyl group of serine or threonine residues in nuclear, cytoplasmic and mitochondrial proteins. The enzyme O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) is responsible for adding GlcNAc, and anomalies in this process can lead to the development of diseases associated with metabolic imbalance, such as diabetes and cancer. Repurposing approved drugs can be an attractive tool to discover new targets reducing time and costs in the drug design.

Antileishmanial Activity of 4,8-Dimethoxynaphthalenyl Chalcones on .

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by species. Available therapeutic options have several limitations. The drive to develop new, more potent, and selective antileishmanial agents is thus a major goal.

Molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous systems of inhibitor candidates for adenosine-5'-phosphosufate reductase.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to evaluate some chelating agents as potential candidates to inhibitors for dissimilatory adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate reductase (APSrAB). Molecular docking methods were used to evaluate the best binding modes of these molecules to the enzyme at two binding sites: of the substrate (enzyme active site) by mean the redocking protocol of substrate; and of one of the [FeS] groups by mean of the clusterization protocol. The best docking poses were selected by criteria such as low energy and RMSD (redocking) and the cluster with the higher number of similar poses (clusterization), which were submitted to MD simulations.

Investigation of the antileishmanial activity and mechanisms of action of acetyl-thiohydantoins.

The currently available treatment options for leishmaniasis are associated with high costs, severe side effects, and high toxicity. In previous studies, thiohydantoins demonstrated some pharmacological activities and were shown to be potential hit compounds with antileishmanial properties. The present study further explored the antileishmanial effect of acetyl-thiohydantoins against Leishmania amazonensis and determined the main processes involved in parasite death.

Exploring the antileishmanial activity of ,-disubstituted-benzoylguanidines: synthesis and molecular modeling studies.

In this report, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of nine ,-disubstituted-benzoylguanidines against promastigotes and amastigotes forms of . The derivatives and showed low IC values against promastigote form (90.8 ± 0.

Electronic investigation of the effect of substituents on the SOD mimic activity of copper (II) complexes with 8-hydroxyquinoline-derived ligands.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to study the superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimic activity of two Cu complexes with ligands derived from 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ). Electron-donating and -withdrawing substituent groups were inserted into the structures to verify changes in the reactivity. The theoretical parameters obtained were compared and validated with the experimental data available.

Thiohydantoins as anti-leishmanial agents: biological evaluation and multi-target investigation by molecular docking studies.

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoa of the genus . The first-line treatment of this disease is still based on pentavalent antimonial drugs that have a high toxicity profile, which could induce parasitic resistance. Therefore, there is a critical need to discover more effective and selective novel anti-leishmanial agents.

Biological evaluation and molecular modeling of peptidomimetic compounds as inhibitors for O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT).

The vital enzyme O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT) catalyzes the O-GlcNAcylation of intracellular proteins coupling the metabolic status to cellular signaling and transcription pathways. Aberrant levels of O-GlcNAc and OGT have been linked to metabolic diseases as cancer and diabetes. Here, a new series of peptidomimetic OGT inhibitors was identified highlighting the compound LQMed 330, which presented better IC compared to the most potent inhibitors found in the literature.

Isosorbide-based peptidomimetics as inhibitors of hepatitis C virus serine protease.

Hepatitis C infection is a cause of chronic liver diseases such as cirrhosis and carcinoma. The current therapy for hepatitis C has limited efficacy and low tolerance. The HCV encodes a serine protease which is critical for viral replication, and few protease inhibitors are currently on the market.

Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of N'-[(E)-(monosubstituted-benzylidene)]-2-pyrazinecarbohydrazide derivatives.

The present article describes a series of twenty-six N'-[(E)-(monosubstituted-benzylidene)]-2-pyrazinecarbohydrazide (4-29), which were synthesized and evaluated for their cell viabilities in non infected and infected macrophages with Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Afterwards, the non-cytotoxic compounds (4, 6, 8, 15, 21, 23, 24, 27 and 28) were assessed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis ATCC 27294 using the micro plate Alamar Blue assay (MABA) and the activity expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in microg/mL. The compounds 6, 23, 27 and 28 exhibited a significant activity (50-100 microg/mL) when compared with first line drugs such as pyrazinamide and were not cytotoxic in their respective MIC values.