An exploration of binding of Hesperidin, Rutin, and Thymoquinone to acetylcholinesterase enzyme using multi-level computational approaches

Alzheimer's disease, an intricate neurological disorder, is impacting an ever-increasing number of individuals globally, particularly among the aging population. For several decades phytochemicals were used as Ayurveda to treat both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a widely chosen therapeutic target for the development of early prevention and effective management of neurodegenerative diseases. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the binding potential between Rutin Thymoquinone, Hesperidin and the FDA-approved drug Donepezil with AChE. Additionally, a comparative analysis was conducted. These phytochemicals were docked with the binding site of the AChE experimental complex. The molecular dockings demonstrated that the Hesperidinh showed a better binding affinity of -22.0631 kcal/mol. The ADME/T investigations revealed that the selected phytochemicals are non-toxic and drug-like candidates. Molecular dynamics simulations were implemented to determine the conformational changes of Rutin, hesperidin, Thymoquinone, and Donepezil complexed with AChE. Hesperidin and Donepezil were more stable than Rutin, Thymoquinone complexed with AChE. Next, essential dynamics and defining the secondary structure of protein were to determine the conformational changes in AChE complexed with selected phytochemicals during simulations. Overall, the MD Simulations demonstrated that all complexes in this study achieved stability until 100 ns of the simulation period was performed thrice. The structural analysis of AChE was done using multiple search engines to explore the molecular functions, biological processes, and pathways in which AChE proteins are involved and to identify potential drug targets for various diseases. This present study concludes that Hesperidin was found to be a more potent AChE inhibitors than Rutin, and further experiments are required to determine the effectivity of Hesperidin against neurodegenerative diseases.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma