Elucidating the interaction of antidepressant drug paroxetine with ct-dsDNA: A comparative study by electrochemical, spectroscopic, and molecular docking approaches

This study is designed to investigate the interaction of phenylpiperidine derivative drug paroxetine, which is an effective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and biomolecules through electrochemical, fluorescence spectroscopy, and molecular docking methods. The interaction between paroxetine and biomolecules was investigated by differential pulse voltammetry according to the decrease in deoxyguanosine anodic oxidation signal of double-stranded calf thymus DNA. Fluorescence spectroscopy studies were performed by titrating paroxetine against double-stranded calf thymus DNA solution at four different temperatures. The fluorescent results showed that paroxetine had a great affinity to bind with double-stranded calf thymus DNA. Interaction studies demonstrate that paroxetine binds to double-stranded calf thymus DNA via intercalation binding mode, and the binding constant values ​​were calculated as 7.24 × 104 M−1 and 1.52 × 104 M−1 at 25 °C, based on voltammetric and spectroscopic results, respectively. Moreover, with the aim of elucidating the interaction mechanism between paroxetine and double-stranded calf thymus DNA, electrochemical and fluorescence spectroscopy studies along with molecular docking analysis were made.