Integrated 3D-QSAR, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation studies on 1,2,3-triazole based derivatives for designing new acetylcholinesterase inhibitors

Authors: KHALIL EL KHATABI, ILHAM AANOUZ, REDA El-MERNISSI, ATUL KUMAR SINGH, MOHAMMED AZIZ AJANA, TAHAR LAKHLIFI, SHASHANK KUMAR, MOHAMMED BOUACHRINE

Abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial and polygenic disease. It is the most prevalent reason for dementia in the aging population. A dataset of twenty-six 1,2,3-triazole-based derivatives previously synthetized and evaluated for acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity were subjected to the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) study. Good predictability was achieved for comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) (Q² = 0.604, R² = 0.863, r_ext² = 0.701) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) (Q² = 0.606, R² = 0.854, r_ext² = 0.647). The molecular features characteristics provided by the 3D-QSAR contour plots were quite useful for designing and improving the activity of acetylcholinesterase of this class. Based on these findings, a new series of 1,2,3-triazole based derivatives were designed, among which compound A1 with the highest predictive activity was subjected to detailed molecular docking and compared to the most active compound. The selected compounds were further subjected to 20 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the comparative conformation dynamics of the protein after ligand binding, revealing promising results for the designed molecule. Therefore, this study could provide worthy guidance for further experimental analysis of highly effective acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.

Keywords: Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, 1,2,3-triazole, acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity, Alzheimer's disease

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