Soyasapogenol-B as a Potential Multitarget Therapeutic Agent for Neurodegenerative Disorders: Molecular Docking and Dynamics Study

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders involve various pathophysiological pathways, and finding a solution for these issues is still an uphill task for the scientific community. In the present study, a combination of molecular docking and dynamics approaches was applied to target different pathways leading to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Initially, abrineurin natural inducers were screened using physicochemical properties and toxicity assessment. Out of five screened compounds, a pentacyclic triterpenoid, i.e., Soyasapogenol B appeared to be the most promising after molecular docking and simulation analysis. Soyasapogenol B showed low TPSA (60.69), high absorption (82.6%), no Lipinski rule violation, and no toxicity. Docking interaction analysis revealed that Soyasapogenol B bound effectively to all of the targeted proteins (AChE, BuChE MAO-A, MAO-B, GSK3β, and NMDA), in contrast to other screened abrineurin natural inducers and inhibitors. Importantly, Soyasapogenol B bound to active site residues of the targeted proteins in a similar pattern to the native ligand inhibitor. Further, 100 ns molecular dynamics simulations analysis showed that Soyasapogenol B formed stable complexes against all of the targeted proteins. RMSD analysis showed that the Soyasapogenol B–protein complex exhibited average RMSD values of 1.94 Å, 2.11 Å, 5.07 Å, 2.56 Å, 3.83 Å and 4.07 Å. Furthermore, the RMSF analysis and secondary structure analysis also indicated the stability of the Soyasapogenol B–protein complexes.