Raju Dash

Molecular docking of fisetin with AD associated AChE, ABAD and BACE1 proteins.

Alzheimer׳s disease (AD) is one of the most common dementias showing slow progressive cognitive decline. Progression of intracerebral accumulation of beta amyloid (Aβ) peptides by the action of amyloid binding alcohol dehydrogenase (ABAD), a mitochondrial enzyme and β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) and the degradation of Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) the main pathological characteristics of AD. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the importance of fisetin (a flavonol that belongs to the flavonoid group of polyphenols) binding with AChE, ABAD and BACE1 proteins. Docking experiment of fisetin with these proteins using two different tools namely iGEMDOCK and FlexX show significant binding with acceptable binding values. Thus, the potential inhibitory role of fisetin with AD associated proteins is documented.

In silico-based vaccine design against Ebola virus glycoprotein

Ebola virus (EBOV) is one of the lethal viruses, causing more than 24 epidemic outbreaks to date. Despite having available molecular knowledge of this virus, no definite vaccine or other remedial agents have been developed yet for the management and avoidance of EBOV infections in humans. Disclosing this, the present study described an epitope-based peptide vaccine against EBOV, using a combination of B-cell and T-cell epitope predictions, followed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation approach. Here, protein sequences of all glycoproteins of EBOV were collected and examined via in silico methods to determine the most immunogenic protein. From the identified antigenic protein, the peptide region ranging from 186 to 220 and the sequence HKEGAFFLY from the positions of 154–162 were considered the most potential B-cell and T-cell epitopes, correspondingly. Moreover, this peptide (HKEGAFFLY) interacted with HLA-A*32:15 with the highest binding energy and stability, and also a good conservancy of 83.85% with maximum population coverage. The results imply that the designed epitopes could manifest vigorous enduring defensive immunity against EBOV.

Effects of organic extracts and their different fractions of five Bangladeshi plants on in vitro thrombolysis

BackgroundThe increasingly high incidence of ischemic stroke caused by thrombosis of the arterial vessels is one of the major factors that threaten people’s health and lives in the world. The present treatments for thrombosis are still unsatisfactory. Herbal preparations have been used since ancient times for the treatment of several diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether herbal preparations possess thrombolytic activity or not.MethodsAn in vitro thrombolytic model was used to check the clot lysis effect of the crude extracts and fractions of five Bangladeshi plant viz., Trema orientalis L., Bacopa monnieri L., Capsicum frutescens L., Brassica oleracea L. and Urena sinuata L. using streptokinase as a positive control and water as a negative control. Briefly, venous blood drawn from twenty healthy volunteers was allowed to form clots which were weighed and treated with the test plant materials to disrupt the clots. Weight of clot after and before treatment provided a percentage of clot lysis.ResultsUsing an in vitro thrombolytic model, different fractions of five Bangladeshi medicinal plants namely T. orientalis, B. monnieri, C. frutescens, B. oleracea and U. sinuata showed various range of clot lysis activity. Chloroform fractions of T. orientalis, B. monnieri, C. frutescens, B. oleracea and U. sinuata showed highest significant (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001) clot lysis activity viz., 46.44 ± 2.44%, 48.39 ± 10.12%, 36.87 ± 1.27%, 30.24 ± 0.95% and 47.89 ± 6.83% respectively compared with positive control standard streptokinase (80.77 ± 1.12%) and negative control sterile distilled water (5.69 ± 3.09%). Other fractions showed moderate to low clot lysis activity. Order of clot lysis activity was found to be: Streptokinase > Chloroform fractions > Methanol (crude) extract > Hydro-methanol fractions > Ethyl acetate fractions > n-hexane fractions > Water.ConclusionsOur study suggests that thrombolytic activity of T. orientalis, B. monnieri and U. sinuata could be considered as very promising and beneficial for the Bangladeshi traditional medicine. Lower effects of other extracts might suggest the lack of bio-active components and/or insufficient quantities in the extract. In vivo clot dissolving property and active component(s) of T. orientalis and B. monnieri for clot lysis could lead the plants for their therapeutic uses. However, further work will establish whether or not, chloroform soluble phytochemicals from these plants could be incorporated as a thrombolytic agent for the improvement of the patients suffering from atherothrombotic diseases.

A study of the prevalence of thalassemia and its correlation with liver function test in different age and sex group in the Chittagong district of Bangladesh

Thalassemia is the name of a group of genetic, inherited disorders of the blood. More specifically, it is a disorder of the hemoglobin molecule inside the red blood cells. According to World health Organization (WHO), there are about 3% beta-thalassemia carrier and about 4% Hb E/beta-thalassemia carrier in Bangladesh. Our objective is to identify the prevalence of beta-thalassemia in our adolescent populations and to review risk factors that would most easily identify a subset of adolescent patients at greatest risk for the development of beta-thalassemia. We also made a study of clinical profile of 53 thalassemic patients, observing the relationship between the patients with their verity ages and sex. The cases are taken on the basis of their age (2-30 years), beta-thalassemia major, clinical jaundice with history of chronic blood transfusion. The cases excluded those who had jaundice due to viral hepatitis or hepatitis due to heavy metal poisoning (Arsenic) and those with spleenectomy. Liver function test has been evaluated in 53 patients. That were recorded with some relevant demographical data such as age, sex, blood group where median age was of 16 years and mean (±SD) age 15.4151 ± 7.90918. Among them were 21 (39.6%) female and 32 (60.4%) male. With an average 15.1% (8 in no.) beta-thalassemia, 7.5% (4 in no.) beta-thalassemia major and 77.4% (41 in no.) E-beta-thalassemia cases have been found in the study. Mean (±SD) TSB in total 53 subjects with age group 2-10 years and 21-30 years is significant. The study revealed that in thalassemic patients when the age is more, the disease progresses with their complication. Hepatic complication is mainly due to being hepatocellular in nature than that of obstructive one.

Evolution of selective COX-2 inhibitor from Alangium salvifolium: an in silico approach -

Pain and inflammation are linked with a number of pathological conditions. Several studies are in progress worldwide to find natural healing agents with better safety profile. Our current study is aimed to evaluate Alangium salvifolium (family: Alangeaceae) derived analgesic compounds for therapeutic drug discovery by computational approach. Literature based studies are used to explore the compounds of A. salvifolium. Ligands are prepared by following the appropriate procedures and finally in silico molecular docking analysis performed by GOLD 4.2. After post docking analysis salviifosides A of Alangium salvifolium is found to have interaction on COX-2 protein by obtaining highest fitness score 50.64 and molecular interaction suggests that it could be a potent anti-inflammatory compound and it may be worth for further clinical trials.

Antithrombotic Effects of Five Organic Extracts of Bangladeshi Plants In Vitro and Mechanisms in In Silico Models

This research was carried out to investigate the thrombolytic effects of the methanolic extracts of five Bangladeshi plants. Phytochemical metabolites of those plants have been identified to elucidate whether the plant-derived metabolites are linked with the thrombolytic effects. Potential computer aided models were adopted in this study to find out a structure-function correlation between the phytochemical constituents and thrombolytic effects using the secondary metabolites as ligands and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as receptor for the best fit ligand-receptor interaction.

Molecular docking analysis of known flavonoids as duel COX-2 inhibitors in the context of cancer

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) catalyzed synthesis of prostaglandin E2 and it associates with tumor growth, infiltration, and metastasis in preclinical experiments. Known inhibitors against COX-2 exhibit toxicity. Therefore, it is of interest to screen natural compounds like flavanoids against COX-2. Molecular docking using 12 known flavanoids against COX-2 by FlexX and of ArgusLab were performed. All compounds showed a favourable binding energy of >-10 KJ/mol in FlexX and > -8 kcal/mol in ArgusLab. However, this data requires in vitro and in vivo verification for further consideration.

Molecular docking and analgesic studies of Erythrina variegata׳s derived phytochemicals with COX enzymes.

Secondary metabolites from plants are a good source for the NSAID drug development. We studied the analgesic activity of ethanolic extract of Erythrina variegata L. (Fabaceae) followed by molecular docking analysis. The analgesic activity of Erythrina variegata L. is evaluated by various methods viz., acetic acid-induced writhing test, hot plate and tail immersion test. Subsequently, molecular docking analysis has been performed to identify compounds having activity against COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes by using GOLD docking fitness. The result of preliminary phytochemical screening revealed that the extract contains alkaloids and flavonoids. In analgesic activity tests, the extract at the doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) produced a increase in pain threshold in a dose dependent manner. In acetic acid induced writhing test, the inhibitory effect was similar to the reference drug diclofenac sodium. The extract showed 18.89% writhing inhibitory effect at the dose 200 mg/kg b.w., whereas diclofenac sodium showed 79.42% inhibition of writhing at a dose of 10 mg/kg b.w. The results of tail immersion and hot plate test also showed potential analgesic activity of the extract which is also comparable to the standard drug morphine (5 mg/kg b.w.). Docking studies shows that phaseollin of Erythrina variegata L. has the best fitness score against the COX-1 which is 56.64 and 59.63 for COX- 2 enzyme. Phaseollin of Erythrina variegata L. detected with significant fitness score and hydrogen bonding against COX-1 and COX-2 is reported for further validation.

Antidiarrheal and antinociceptive activities of ethanol extract and its chloroform and pet ether fraction of Phrynium imbricatum (Roxb.) leaves in mice

Abstract Background: The objective of the study was to evaluate the antidiarrheal and antinociceptive activities of ethanol extract and its chloroform and pet ether fraction of Phrynium imbricatum (Roxb.) leaves in mice. Methods: In the present study, the dried leaves of P. imbricatum were subjected to extraction with ethanol, and then it was fractioned by chloroform and pet ether solvent. Antidiarrheal effects were tested by using castor oil-induced diarrhea, castor oil-induced enteropooling, and gastrointestinal transit test. Antinociceptive activity was evaluated by using the acetic acid-induced writhing test and formalin-induced paw licking test. Results: The standard drug loperamide (5 mg/kg) showed significant (p<0.001) inhibitory activity against castor oil-induced diarrhea, in which all the examined treatments decreased the frequency of defecation and were found to possess an anti-castor oil-induced enteropooling effect in mice by reducing both weight and volume of intestinal content significantly, and reducing the propulsive movement in castor oil-induced gastrointestinal transit using charcoal meal in mice. The results showed that the ethanol extract of P. imbricatum leaves has significant dose-dependent antinociceptive activity, and among its two different fractions, the pet ether fraction significantly inhibited the abdominal writhing induced by acetic acid and the licking times in formalin test at both phases. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the plant may be a potential source for the development of a new antinociceptive drug and slightly suitable for diarrhea, as it exhibited lower activity. Our observations resemble previously published data on P. imbricatum leaves.

Docking and ADME/T analysis of silibinin as a potential inhibitor of EGFR kinase for ovarian cancer therapy -

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is mostly deregulated and over expressed in ovarian cancer, which is directly linked with STAT3 activation that leads to the accumulation of anti-apoptotoc events and thus, platinum drug resistance occurs. Regarding this, increasing of platinum drug sensitivity by targeting EGFR receptor along with platinum drugs is one of the major strategies in ovarian cancer treatment. In this context, using molecular simulation studies, the present study described the structural and functional properties of silibinin as a potential inhibitor of EGFR tyrosine kinase, and also its metabolic profile had been investigated by SOM prognosis. According to the results, silibinin have shown the significant binding energy by interacting with important residues in the active site. Again, it also processed medium absorption profile with no Fe accessibility. Furthermore, the study is also useful for further clinical based studies and also for the validation of toxicological and pharmacokinetic study.