Computational studies on the anastrozole and letrozole, effective chemotherapy drugs against breast cancer

Waterborne Tebuconazole Exposure Induces Male-Biased Sex Differentiation in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Larvae via Aromatase Inhibition

Tebuconazole is a widely used fungicide for various crops that targets sterol 14-α-demethylase (CYP51) in fungi. However, attention has shifted to aromatase (CYP19) due to limited research indicating its reproductive impact on aquatic organisms. Herein, zebrafish were exposed to 0.5 mg/L tebuconazole at different developmental stages. The proportion of males increased significantly after long-term exposure during the sex differentiation phase (0-60, 5-60, and 19-60 days postfertilization (dpf)). Testosterone levels increased and 17β-estradiol and cyp19a1a expression levels decreased during the 5-60 dpf exposure, while the sex ratio was equally distributed on coexposure with 50 ng/L 17β-estradiol. Chemically activated luciferase gene expression bioassays determined that the male-biased sex differentiation was not caused by tebuconazole directly binding to sex hormone receptors. Protein expression and phosphorylation levels were specifically altered in the vascular endothelial growth factor signaling pathway despite excluding the possibility of tebuconazole directly interacting with kinases. Aromatase was selected for potential target analysis. Molecular docking and aromatase activity assays demonstrated the interactions between tebuconazole and aromatase, highlighting that tebuconazole poses a threat to fish populations by inducing a gender imbalance.

New Platinum (II) Ternary Complexes of Formamidine and Pyrophosphate: Synthesis, Characterization and DFT Calculations and In vitro Cytotoxicity

AIM AND OBJECTIVE

Platinum (II) and platinum (IV) of pyrophosphate complexes have been prepared and characterized to discover their potential as antitumor drugs. This study was conducted to prepare and characterize new ternary platinum (II) complexes with formamidine and pyrophosphate as an antitumor candidate.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The complexes have been characterized by mass, infrared, UV-Vis. spectroscopy, elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility, thermal analyses, and theoretical calculations. They have been tested for their cytotoxicity, which was carried out using the fastcolorimetric assay for cellular growth and survival against MCF-7 (breast cancer cell line), HCT- 116 (colon carcinoma cell line), and HepG-2 (hepatocellular cancer cell line).

RESULTS

All complexes are diamagnetic, and the electronic spectral data displayed the bands due to square planar Pt(II) complexes. The optimized complexes structures (1-4) indicated a distorted square planar geometry where O-Pt-O and N-Pt-N bond angles were 82.04°-96.44°, respectively. Results also show that all complexes are neutral, stable and non-hygroscopic and have noticeable cytotoxicity with IC50 (μM): 0.035-0.144 MCF-7(breast cancer cell line), 0.042-0.187 HCT-116 (colon carcinoma cell line), and 0.063-0.168 HepG-2 (hepatocellular cancer cell line). Moreover, the results show that the complex (4) has the best IC50 value.

CONCLUSION

The complexes showed noticeable cytotoxicity and are considered as promising antitumor candidates for further applications.

Structural study of letrozole and metronidazole and formation of self-assembly with graphene and fullerene with the enhancement of physical, chemical and biological activities

Letrozole and metronidazole are two commonly used drugs for the management of breast cancer and parasitic infections, respectively. This manuscript attempts to study their structure, geometry, search for stable conformers using relaxed potential energy scan, spectral properties, quantum mechanical properties like energy and reactivity descriptors, intra molecular electron transfer properties, non-linear properties etc using various computational tools. It is found that these compounds will form a self-assembly with graphene sheets and fullerenes and exhibit a surface-enhanced Raman spectra and enhancement in non-linear optical properties when compared to the single molecule. The electronic absorption behavior of the compounds was studied using TD-DFT method. Global chemical reactivity descriptors and activity sites toward electrophilic and nucleophilic attack have been discussed. Studies of intra molecular electron transfer gave information about the relative stability of the compounds. Molecular docking studies indicate that the pure compounds and their self-assemblies with graphene have excellent biological activities.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Molecular insights into the loading and dynamics of anticancer drugs on silicene and folic acid-conjugated silicene nanosheets: DFT calculation and MD simulation

The adsorption behavior of Anastrozole (ANA) and Melphalan (MEL) anticancer drugs on the surface of silicene nanosheet (SNS) and functionalized SNS with folic acid (FA-SNS) is investigated and compared using the density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The DFT calculation is performed at the M06-2X/6-31G** level to characterize the optimized geometry properties of the designed complexes. The calculated adsorption energies are in the range from -65.59 to -144.23 kJ/mol, indicating the drug absorption on the surface of SNS and FA-SNS is exergonic. The π-π interaction between the drugs and SNS surface is the main driving force in the formation of drug-carriers complexes. The quantum theory of atoms in molecule (QTAIM) results reveal that the interaction of SNS and FA-SNS with both drugs has a non-covalent nature. The natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis shows that the charge is transferred from the drug molecules to carrier in all of the investigated complexes. Furthermore, MD simulations reveal that the contribution of van der Waals energy in drug-carrier interactions is more than electrostatic energy. Also, the obtained results demonstrate that the movement of drug molecules toward the carriers is spontaneous. Our study provides insights into the drug delivery capability of SNS and FA-SNS for the delivery of two drugs (ANA and MEL).Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Synthesis of triazole Schiff bases: novel inhibitors of nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1

A series of Schiff base triazoles 1–25 was synthesized and evaluated for their nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 inhibitory activities. Among twenty-five compounds, three compounds 10 (IC50 = 132.20 ± 2.89 lM), 13 (IC50 = 152.83 ± 2.39 lM), and 22 (IC50 = 251.0 ± 6.64 lM) were identified as potent inhibitors with superior activities than the standard EDTA (IC50 = 277.69 ± 2.52 lM). The newly identified inhibitors may open a new avenue for the development of treatment of phosphodiesterase-I related disorders. These compounds were also evaluated for carbonic anhydrase, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory potential and were found to be inactive. The compounds showed non-toxic effect towards PC3 cell lines.