Mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) plays a central role in alterations of mitochondrial structure and function leading to neuronal injury relevant to aging and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). mPTP putatively consists of the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) and the adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT). Cyclophilin D (CypD) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) increase intra-cellular calcium and enhance the formation of mPTP that leads to neuronal cell death in AD. CypD-dependent mPTP can play a crucial role in ischemia/reperfusion injury. The interaction of amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) with CypD potentiates mitochondrial and neuronal perturbation. This interaction triggers the formation of mPTP, resulting in decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, impaired mitochondrial respiration function, increased oxidative stress, release of cytochrome c, and impaired axonal mitochondrial transport. Thus, the CypD-dependent mPTP is directly linked to the cellular and synaptic perturbations observed in the pathogenesis of AD. Designing small molecules to block this interaction would lessen the effects of Aβ neurotoxicity. This review summarizes the recent progress on mPTP and its potential therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases including AD.

Schiff's bases constitute a class of pharmaceutical and medicinally important molecules. The conventional methods for the synthesis of Schiff's bases require long reaction times and use of organic solvents. We report a novel and eco-friendly condensation reaction method permitting the ''green synthesis'' of various Schiff's bases by stirring 1,2-diaminobenzene with various aromatic aldehydes in water as solvent. This method is experimentally simple, clean, high yielding, green, and with reduced reaction times. The product is purified by simple filtration followed by washing with water and drying processes.

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Hexokinases (HKs) are the enzymes that catalyses the ATP dependent phosphorylation of Hexose sugars to Hexose-6-Phosphate (Hex-6-P). There exist four different forms of HKs namely HK-I, HK-II, HK-III and HK-IV and all of them share a common ATP binding site core surrounded by more variable sequence that determine substrate affinities. Although they share a common binding site but they differ in their kinetic functions, hence the present study is aimed to analyze the binding mode of ATP. The analysis revealed that the four ATP binding domains are showing 13 identical, 7 similar and 6 dissimilar residues with similar structural conformation. Molecular docking of ATP into the kinase domains using Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) soft ware tool clearly showed the variation in the binding mode of ATP with variable docking scores. This probably explains the variable phosphorylation rates among hexokinases family.

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Background:The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, there is an urgent need for the development of new antimicrobials which are narrow and pathogen specific.Aim:In this context, the present study is aimed to have a control on the staphylococcal infections by targeting the unique and essential enzyme; porphobilinogen synthase (PBGS) catalyzes the condensation of two molecules of δ-aminolevulinic acid, an essential step in the tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. Hence developing therapeutics targeting PBGS will be the promising choice to control and manage the staphylococcal infections. 4,5-dioxovalerate (DV) is known to inhibit PBGS.Materials and Methods:In view of this, in this study, novel dioxovalerate derivatives (DVDs) molecules were designed so as to inhibit PBGS, a potential target of S. aureus and their inhibitory activity was predicted using molecular docking studies by molecular operating environment. The 3D model of PBGS was constructed using Chlorobium vibrioform (Protein Data Bank 1W1Z) as a template by homology modeling method.Results:The built structure was close to the crystal structure with Z score − 8.97. Molecular docking of DVDs into the S. aureus PBGS active site revealed that they are showing strong interaction forming H-bonds with the active sites of K248 and R217. The ligand–receptor complex of DVD13 showed a best docking score of − 14.4555 kcal/mol among DV and all its analogs while the substrate showed docking score of − 13.0392 kcal/mol showing interactions with S199, K217 indicating that DVD13 can influence structural variations on the enzyme and thereby inhibiting the enzyme.Conclusion:The substrate analog DVD13 is showing significant interactions with active site of PBGS and it may be used as a potent inhibitor to control S. aureus infections.