• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2024

To investigate the mechanism of Wenshen Xuanbi Decoction (WSXB) in treating osteoarthritis (OA) via network pharmacology, bioinformatics analysis, and experimental verification. The active components and prediction targets of WSXB were obtained from the TCMSP database and Swiss Target Prediction website, respectively. OA-related genes were retrieved from GeneCards and OMIM databases. Protein-protein interaction and functional enrichment analyses were performed, resulting in the construction of the Herb-Component-Target network. In addition, differential genes of OA were obtained from the GEO database to verify the potential mechanism of WSXB in OA treatment. Subsequently, potential active components were subjected to molecular verification with the hub targets. Finally, we selected the most crucial hub targets and pathways for experimental verification in vitro. The active components in the study included quercetin, linolenic acid, methyl linoleate, isobergapten, and beta-sitosterol. AKT1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL)-6, GAPDH, and CTNNB1 were identified as the most crucial hub targets. Molecular docking revealed that the active components and hub targets exhibited strong binding energy. Experimental verification demonstrated that the mRNA and protein expression levels of IL-6, IL-17, and TNF in the WSXB group were lower than those in the KOA group (p < 0.05). WSXB exhibits a chondroprotective effect on OA and delays disease progression. The mechanism is potentially related to the suppression of IL-17 and TNF signaling pathways and the down-regulation of IL-6.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.491-496
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• 1993

A class A ${\beta}$-lactamase from Staphylococcus aureus PC1 complexed with 3R,5R-clavulanate is studied. The starting geometry for the computation is the crystal structure of the ${\beta}$-lactamase. Docking of the clavulanate to the enzyme is done exploiting the requirements of electrostatic and shape complementarity between the enzyme and clavulanate. This structure is then hydrated by water molecules and refined by energy minimization and short molecular dynamics simulation. In the energy refined structure of this complex, the carboxyl group of the clavulanate is hydrogen bonded to Lys-234, and the the carbonyl carbon atom of the clavulanate is adjacent to the $O_{\gamma}$ of Ser-70. It is found that a crystallographic water molecule initially located at the oxyanion hole, which is formed by the two -NH group of Ser-70 and Gln-237, is replaced by the carbonyl oxygen atom of the 3R,5R-clavulanate after docking and energy reginement. The crystallographic water molecules are proved to be important in ligand binding. Glu-166 residue is found to be repulsive to the binding of clavulanate, which is in agreement with experimental observation. Arg-244 residue is found to be important to the binding of clavulanate as well as to interaction with C2 side chain of the clavulanate. The electron density redistribution of the clavulanate on binding to the ${\beta}$-lactamase in studied by an ab initio quantum-mechanical calculation. A significant redistribution of electron density of the clavulanate is induced by the enzyme, toward the enzyme, toward the transition state of the enzymatic reaction.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.7-18
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• 2015

Objectives: Lawsone (1,4 naphthoquinone) is a non redox cycling compound that can be catalyzed by DT diaphorase (DTD) into 1,2,4-trihydroxynaphthalene (THN), which can generate reactive oxygen species by auto oxidation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of the phytomarker 1,4 naphthoquinone and its metabolite THN by using the molecular docking program AutoDock 4. Methods: The 3D structure of ligands such as hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH) were drawn using hyperchem drawing tools and minimizing the energy of all pdb files with the help of hyperchem by $MM^+$ followed by a semi-empirical (PM3) method. The docking process was studied with ligand molecules to identify suitable dockings at protein binding sites through annealing and genetic simulation algorithms. The program auto dock tools (ADT) was released as an extension suite to the python molecular viewer used to prepare proteins and ligands. Grids centered on active sites were obtained with spacings of $54{\times}55{\times}56$, and a grid spacing of 0.503 was calculated. Comparisons of Global and Local Search Methods in Drug Docking were adopted to determine parameters; a maximum number of 250,000 energy evaluations, a maximum number of generations of 27,000, and mutation and crossover rates of 0.02 and 0.8 were used. The number of docking runs was set to 10. Results: Lawsone and THN can be considered to efficiently bind with NOS, CAT, GSH, GR, G6PDH and NADPH, which has been confirmed through hydrogen bond affinity with the respective amino acids. Conclusion: Naphthoquinone derivatives of lawsone, which can be metabolized into THN by a catalyst DTD, were examined. Lawsone and THN were found to be identically potent molecules for their affinities for selected proteins.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.590-594
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• 2008

The inclusion complexes of cyclodextrins (CDs) with flavones in aqueous solution were investigated by phase solubility measurements. The effect of b -cyclodextrin (b -CD), heptakis (2,6-di-O-methyl) b -cyclodextrin (DM-b -CD) and 2-hydroxypropyl-b -cyclodextrin (HP-b -CD) on the aqueous solubility of three flavones, namely, chrysin, apigenin and luteolin was investigated, respectively. Solubility enhancements of all flavones obtained with three CDs followed the rank order: HP-b -CD > DM-b -CD > b -CD, and besides, CDs show higher stability constant on luteolin than that on others flavones. 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and molecular modeling was used to help establish the model of interaction of the CDs with luteolin. NMR spectroscopic analysis suggested that A-C ring, and part of the B ring of luteolin display favorable interaction with the CDs, which was also confirmed by docking studies based on the molecular simulation. The observed augmentation of solubility of luteolin by three CDs was explained by the difference of electrostatic interaction of each complex, especially hydrogen bonding.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.151-163
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• 2024

Background: Galangin, commonly employed in traditional Chinese medicine for its diverse medicinal properties, exhibits potential in treating inflammatory pain. Nevertheless, its mechanism of action remains unclear. Methods: Mice were randomly divided into 4 groups for 7 days: a normal control group, a galangin-treated (25 and 50 mg/kg), and a positive control celecoxib (20 mg/kg). Analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated using a hot plate test, acetic acid-induced writhing test, acetic acid-induced vascular permeability test, formalin-induced paw licking test, and carrageenan-induced paw swelling test. The interplay between galangin, transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), NF-κB, COX-2, and TNF-α proteins was evaluated via molecular docking. COX-2, PGE2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α levels in serum were measured using ELISA after capsaicin administration (200 nmol/L). TRPV1 expression in the dorsal root ganglion was analyzed by Western blot. The quantities of substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) were assessed using qPCR. Results: Galangin reduced hot plate-induced licking latency, acetic acid-induced contortions, carrageenan-triggered foot inflammation, and capillary permeability in mice. It exhibited favorable affinity towards TRPV1, NF-κB, COX-2, and TNF-α, resulting in decreased levels of COX-2, PGE2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in serum following capsaicin stimulation. Galangin effectively suppressed the upregulation of TRPV1 protein and associated receptor neuropeptides CGRP and SP mRNA, while concurrently inhibiting the expression of NF-κB, TNF-α, COX-2, and PGE2 mRNA. Conclusions: Galangin exerts its anti-inflammatory pain effects by inhibiting TRPV1 activation and regulating COX-2, NF-κB/TNF-α expression, providing evidence for the use of galangin in the management of inflammatory pain.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2015

Fatty acid synthase (FASN, EC 2.3.1.85), is a multi-enzyme dimer complex that plays a critical role in lipogenesis. This lipogenic enzyme has gained importance beyond its physiological role due to its implications in several clinical conditions-cancers, obesity, and diabetes. This has made FASN an attractive pharmacological target. Here, we have attempted to predict the theoretical models for the human enoyl reductase (ER) and ${\beta}$-ketoacyl reductase (KR) domains based on the porcine FASN crystal structure, which was the structurally closest template available at the time of this study. Comparative modeling methods were used for studying the structure-function relationships. Different validation studies revealed the predicted structures to be highly plausible. The respective substrates of ER and KR domains-namely, trans-butenoyl and ${\beta}$-ketobutyryl-were computationally docked into active sites using Glide in order to understand the probable binding mode. The molecular dynamics simulations of the apo and holo states of ER and KR showed stable backbone root mean square deviation trajectories with minimal deviation. Ramachandran plot analysis showed 96.0% of residues in the most favorable region for ER and 90.3% for the KR domain, respectively. Thus, the predicted models yielded significant insights into the substrate binding modes of the ER and KR catalytic domains and will aid in identifying novel chemical inhibitors of human FASN that target these domains.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1529-1535
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• 2013

Tuberculosis is a worldwide epidemic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with an estimated one-third of the human population currently affected. Treatment of this disease with aminoglycoside antibiotics has become less effective owing to antibiotic resistance. Recent determination of the crystal structure of the M. tuberculosis Rv3168 protein suggests a structure similar to that of Enterococcus faecalis APH(3')-IIIa, and that this protein may be an aminoglycoside phosphotransferase. To determine whether Rv3168 confers antibiotic resistance against kanamycin, we performed dose-response antibiotic resistance experiments using kanamycin. Expression of the Rv3168 protein in Escherichia coli conferred antibiotic resistance against $100{\mu}M$ kanamycin, a concentration that effected cell growth arrest in the parental E. coli strain and an E. coli strain expressing the $Rv3168^{D249A}$ mutant, in which the catalytic Asp249 residue was mutated to alanine. Furthermore, we detected phosphotransferase activity of Rv3168 against kanamycin as a substrate. Moreover, docking simulation of kanamycin into the Rv3168 structure suggests that kanamycin fits well into the substrate binding pocket of the protein, and that the phosphorylation-hydroxyl-group of kanamycin was located at a position similar to that in E. faecalis APH(3')-IIIa. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the Rv3168 mediates kanamycin resistance in M. tuberculosis, likely through phosphotransferase targeting of kanamycin.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.7.1-7.13
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• 2021

Levodopa (L-DOPA) therapy is normally practised to treat motor pattern associated with Parkinson disease (PD). Additionally, several inhibitory drugs such as Entacapone and Opicapone are also cosupplemented to protect peripheral inactivation of exogenous L-DOPA (~80%) that occurs due to metabolic activity of the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). Although, both Entacapone and Opicapone have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval but regular use of these drugs is associated with high risk of side effects. Thus, authors have focused on in silico discovery of phytochemicals and evaluation of their effectiveness against human soluble COMT using virtual screening, molecular docking, drug-like property prediction, generation of pharmacophoric property, and molecular dynamics simulation. Overall, study proposed, nine phytochemicals (withaphysalin D, withaphysalin N, withaferin A, withacnistin, withaphysalin C, withaphysalin O, withanolide B, withasomnine, and withaphysalin F) of plant Withania somnifera have strong binding efficiency against human COMT in comparison to both of the drugs i.e., Opicapone and Entacapone, thus may be used as putative bioenhancer in L-DOPA therapy. The present study needs further experimental validation to be used as an adjuvant in PD treatment.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2009

A computer supported cooperative work(CSCW) system is a collaboration system, which enables cooperative works among various participants through the Internet. A collaborative virtual reality environment(CRVE) can be used in scientific research and cultural research because it can provide users with virtual experiences of three dimensional molecular models in cyberspace. However, general CVRE systems are only focused on synchronous collaborations. We propose a remote collaboration system, which provides synchronous and asynchronous cooperation in collaborative virtual reality environment. The proposed system can be applied to bioscience experiments such as molecular docking process, and crystallography simulation. The proposed system is evaluated in performance comparison with previous approaches.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.41.1-41.11
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• 2023

The Dengue virus M protein is a 75 amino acid polypeptide with two helical transmembranes (TM). The TM domain oligomerizes to form an ion channel, facilitating viral release from the host cells. The M protein has a critical role in the virus entry and life cycle, making it a potent drug target. The oligomerization of the monomeric protein was studied using ab initio modeling and molecular dynamics simulation in an implicit membrane environment. The representative structures obtained showed pentamer as the most stable oligomeric state, resembling an ion channel. Glutamic acid, threonine, serine, tryptophan, alanine, isoleucine form the pore-lining residues of the pentameric channel, conferring an overall negative charge to the channel with approximate length of 51.9 Å. Residue interaction analysis for M protein shows that Ala94, Leu95, Ser112, Glu124, and Phe155 are the central hub residues representing the physicochemical interactions between domains. The virtual screening with 165 different ion channel inhibitors from the ion channel library shows monovalent ion channel blockers, namely lumacaftor, glipizide, gliquidone, glisoxepide, and azelnidipine to be the inhibitors with high docking scores. Understanding the three-dimensional structure of M protein will help design therapeutics and vaccines for Dengue infection.