Computational exploration of bioactive compounds from Albizia procera: Molecular docking, dynamics, and pharmacokinetics for AchE and BchE inhibition in Alzheimer's disease treatment

Abstract

Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) are inadequate and primarily target inhibition of butyrylcholinesterase (BchE) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzymes. This study focused on identifying potential anti-AD compounds from the leaf extract of Albizia procera using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and computational approaches. Ethanol seed extract analysis revealed 10 phytoconstituents, which were evaluated for their binding affinities using Autodock Vina and Desmond software against AD-related targets (PDB IDs: 4PQE, 2WJO, and 2POA). Five compounds, along with the control drug, showed significant docking energies. Subsequent in silico ADMET analysis assessed parameters such as intestinal absorption, blood-brain barrier permeability, gastrointestinal absorption, carcinogenicity, and acute oral toxicity. The results extract showed notable affinity for BchE and acetylcholinesterase targets. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations supported the involvement of hydrogen bonding with ASP207 and GLY75 residues in binding these ligands, demonstrating that disrupting these forces causes destabilization. A ligand plot study also presented a two-dimensional plot of these interactions. The docking results indicate that 7-Oxabicyclo [4.1.0] heptan-2-one could be a promising agent for the treatment of AD because of its higher stability with respect to the two best ligands among all compounds tested. Therefore, from this study, it can be concluded that the compounds present in the leaf extract of A. procera have potential as targets linked to AD and may be helpful for the development of new drugs. Therefore, these data draw a focus on non-synthetic compounds during drug discovery and could possibly provide approaches for exploring existing therapies for AD.