NSAIDs as potential treatment option for preventing amyloid β toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease: an investigation by docking, molecular dynamics, and DFT studies

Abstract

Aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ) protein considered as one of contributors in development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Several investigations have identified the importance of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as Aβ aggregation inhibitors. Here, we have examined the binding interactions of 24 NSAIDs belonging to eight different classes, with Aβ fibrils by exploiting docking and molecular dynamics studies. Minimum energy conformation of the docked NSAIDs were further optimized by density functional theory (DFT) employing Becke’s three-parameter hybrid model, Lee–Yang–Parr (B3LYP) correlation functional method. DFT-based global reactivity descriptors, such as electron affinity, hardness, softness, chemical potential, electronegativity, and electrophilicity index were calculated to inspect the expediency of these descriptors for understanding the reactive nature and sites of the molecules. Few selected NSAID-Aβ fibrils complexes were subjected to molecular dynamics simulation to illustrate the stability of these complexes and the most prominent interactions during the simulated trajectory. All of the NSAIDs exhibited potential activity against Aβ fibrils in terms of predicted binding affinity. Sulindac was found to be the most active compound underscoring the contribution of indene methylene substitution, whereas acetaminophen was observed as least active NSAID. General structural requirements for interaction of NSAIDs with Aβ fibril include: aryl/heteroaryl aromatic moiety connected through a linker of 1–2 atoms to a distal aromatic group. Considering these structural requirements and electronic features, new potent agents can be designed and developed as potential Aβ fibril inhibitors for the treatment of AD.

Keywords:

• amyloid β fibril
• molecular docking
• density functional theory
• NSAIDs
• HOMO-LUMO energy
• molecular dynamics

Acknowledgements

Authors are delighted to thank Dr Abdulkareem Sasi and Dr Abdualrahman Amer for their kind help in polishing images and references, respectively.