Mol Biotechnol
June 2024
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating condition that can cause locomotor problems in affected patients, such as tremors and body rigidity. PD therapy often includes the use of monoamine oxidase B (MAOB) inhibitors, particularly phenylhalogen compounds and coumarin-based semi-synthetic compounds. The objective of this study was to analyze the structural, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic profile of a series of Triazolo Thiadiazepine-fused Coumarin Derivatives (TDCDs) against MAOB, in comparison with the inhibitor safinamide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol
October 2024
This study aims to evaluate the antitrypanosomiasis activity of a synthetic dichloro-substituted aminochalcone via in vitro assays against infected cell cultures, as well as a theoretical characterization of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics against the protein targets of the evolutionary cycle of T. cruzi. The in vitro evaluation of parasite proliferation inhibition was performed via cytotoxicity analysis on mammalian host cells, effect on epimastigote and trypomastigote forms, and cell death analysis, while computer simulations characterized the electronic structure of (2E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (DCl), the mechanism of action against the proteins of the evolutionary cycle of T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe excess level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has contributed a lot to global warming, occasioning several damages to the planet. Therefore, it is urgent to find ways to capture this gas. Then, the present work analyzed the temperature effect in CO absorption through deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on urea and choline chloride using an in silico approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychoactive natural products are potent serotonergic agonists capable of modulating brain functions such as memory and cognition. These substances have shown therapeutic potential for treating various mental disorders. The fact that N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is produced endogenously in several plants and animals, including humans, makes it particularly attractive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work presents the synthesis of 12 phenol and chromone derivatives, prepared by the analogs, and the possibility of conducting an in silico study of its derivatives as a therapeutic alternative to combat the SARS-CoV-2, pathogen responsible for COVID-19 pandemic, using its S-glycoprotein as a macromolecular target. After the initial screening for the ranking of the products, it was chosen which structure presented the best energy bond with the target. As a result, derivative 4 was submitted to a molecular growth study using artificial intelligence, where 8436 initial structures were obtained that passed through the interaction filters and similarity to the active glycoprotein pocket through the MolAICal computational package.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Mol Model
April 2023
Chagas disease (CD) is a tropical disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by the barber insect. Currently, there are approximately 7 million infected people in the world, and it is estimated that 70 million people could contract this disease. The anacardic acid (AA) showed effectiveness in in silico and in vitro tests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
November 2023
The pandemic caused by Sars-CoV-2 is a viral infection that has generated one of the most significant health problems worldwide. Previous studies report the main protease (Mpro) as a potential target for this virus, as it is considered a crucial enzyme in mediating replication and viral transcription. This work presented the construction of new bioactive compounds for possible inhibition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
July 2023
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has the virus that causes the SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has reached a pandemic proportion, with thousands of deaths worldwide already registered. It has no standardized effective clinical treatment, arousing the urgent need for the discovery of bioactive compounds for the treatment of symptoms of COVID-19. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the influence of seasonality on the yield and chemical composition of the essential oils of and as well as to evaluate the anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential of the major components of each oil by molecular docking and quantum chemical calculation (Density Functional Theory method), being possible indicate that the winter and autumn periods, the seasons of the year where it is possible to obtain the highest percentage of and oils, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeishmaniasis disease is a serious public health problem. This disease reaches about 10 to 12 million people, and 20-30 thousand people die yearly. The disease treatment is realized through pentavalent antimonial and glucantime.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interaction of carbon-based nanomaterials and ionic liquids (ILs) has been thoroughly exploited for diverse electroanalytical solutions since the first report in 2003. This combination, either through covalent or non-covalent functionalization, takes advantage of the unique characteristics inherent to each material, resulting in synergistic effects that are conferred to the electrochemical (bio)sensing system. From one side, carbon nanomaterials offer miniaturization capacity with enhanced electron transfer rates at a reduced cost, whereas from the other side, ILs contribute as ecological dispersing media for the nanostructures, improving conductivity and biocompatibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work investigated the antioxidant potential of acetylated and nitrated eugenol derivatives through structural analysis and the mechanism of hydrogen atomic transfer (HAT) by density functional theory (DFT). The structures were optimized by the hybrid functional M06-2X with basis set 6-31 + G(d,p), and the HAT mechanism was evaluated with HO, HOO, CHO, DPPH radicals. In agreement with experimental data from previous studies, two steps of hydrogen transfer were tested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Biol Interact
July 2022
Chagas disease is a disease that is emerging in North America and Europe countries. Benznidazole is the main drug available, but it has high toxicity and low efficacy in the chronic phase. In this way, researching new antichagasic agents is necessary.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Chem Chem Phys
February 2022
Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have many advantages, making them a promising alternative in replacing ionic liquids and organic solvents. Besides, DESs have received much prominence due to their diverse applications: Electrodeposition of metals, organic synthesis, gas adsorption, and biodiesel production. Therefore, this work analyzed the effect of the temperature increase (298 K-353 K) on the behavior of the Co ions in three eutectic solvents through electrochemical techniques and computational simulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChagas disease infects approximately seven million people worldwide. Benznidazole is effective only in the acute phase of the disease, with an average cure rate of 80% between acute and recent cases. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find new bioactive substances that can be effective against parasites without causing so many complications to the host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA simple and robust sensor (fMWCNT-Nafion®0.5%/GCE) for determination of imidacloprid (IMI), a widely used neonicotinoid, was developed using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (fMWCNT) and Nafion®. The obtained data suggest that IMI reduction is an irreversible process, due to the reduction of the nitro group to hydroxylamine derivatives, with the participation of two protons and four electrons, and a charge transfer coefficient of 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChagas disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasite , with approximately 6-7 million people infected worldwide, becoming a public health problem in tropical countries, thus generating an increasing demand for the development of more effective drugs, due to the low efficiency of the existing drugs. Aiming at the development of a new antichagasic pharmacological tool, the density functional theory was used to calculate the reactivity descriptors of amentoflavone, a biflavonoid with proven anti-trypanosomal activity in vitro, as well as to perform a study of interactions with the enzyme cruzain, an enzyme key in the evolutionary process of . Structural properties (in solvents with different values of dielectric constant), the infrared spectrum, the frontier orbitals, Fukui analysis, thermodynamic properties were the parameters calculated from DFT method with the monomeric structure of the apigenin used for comparison.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
January 2021
The sanitary emergency generated by the pandemic COVID-19, instigates the search for scientific strategies to mitigate the damage caused by the disease to different sectors of society. The disease caused by the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, reached 216 countries/territories, where about 20 million people were reported with the infection. Of these, more than 740,000 died.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe water influence on electrochemical behaviour of Ag ions in urea and choline chloride mixture was investigated by cyclic voltammetry technique, while the molecular insights about the investigated systems were obtained from molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The water content was variated from 0 up to 10% (v/v). Cyclic voltammetry technique showed that the peak potential for Ag/Ag redox couples shifted in direction to more positive potentials with the gradual increase of water content in solution, indicating that the addition of water electrocatalyses the kinetics of the reduction of Ag ions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectroanalytical methodology by boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE) associated to the square-wave voltammetry (SWV) for the determination of hydrolyzed dipyrone (DIP) in commercial formulations, raw natural waters and in human urine was developed. Through cyclic voltammetry (CV), it was shown that the oxidation of the DIP on the BDDE was irreversible with diffusional control. Computational studies suggested that the oxidation mechanism of DIP occurred with participation of two electrons and one proton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel platform for carbamate-based pesticide quantification using a chitosan/magnetic iron oxide (Chit-FeO) nanocomposite as a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modifier is shown for an analytical methodology for determination of bendiocarb (BND). The BND oxidation signal using GCE/Chit-FeO compared with bare GCE was catalyzed, showing a 37.5% of current increase with the peak potential towards less positive values, showing method's increased sensitivity and selectivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe influence of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (fMWCNT) in the presence of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM]PF) in different ratios was investigated on the acetaminophen (ACOP) electrochemical determination. The electrochemical behavior of the ACOP exhibited a pair of well-defined redox peaks, suggesting that the reversibility of ACOP was significantly improved in comparison to irreversible oxidation peak on bare GCE. The redox process was controlled by adsorption, involves two electrons and the value of apparent rate constant (k) was equal to 14.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of water on the physicochemical properties of an ethylene glycol and choline chloride mixture containing Cu2+ ions was investigated by electrochemical techniques and molecular dynamics simulation. The experiments and computational calculations were carried out by increasing the water content from 0 up to 10% (v/v). The cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry techniques showed that the diffusion coefficient of Cu2+ ions increased and that the peak potentials for both the Cu2+/Cu+ and Cu+/Cu redox couples shifted towards more positive potentials with the increase in the water content in the solution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChlorhexidine (CHD), a germicidal drug, has degradation products that can be hemotoxic and carcinogenic. However, there is no consensus in literature about the degradation pathway. In order to shed light on that mechanism, we have employed Density Functional Theory to study reactants, in different protonation states, products and intermediates involved in the different pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
October 2017
The chemical imidacloprid belongs to the neonicotinoids insecticide class, widely used for insect pest control mainly for crop protection. However, imidacloprid is a non-selective agrochemical to the insects and it is able to kill the most important pollinators, the bees. The high toxicity of imidacloprid requires controlled release and continuous monitoring.
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