In silico approach to inhibition of tyrosinase by ascorbic acid using molecular docking simulations.

Current evidence suggests that endogenous dopamine may act as a neurotoxin following its oxidation to an oquinone and reaction with cellular thiols, which are neutoxic, which may occur spontaneously or via reaction with tyrosinase or some other enzymes. Tyrosinase (E.C. 1.14.18.1) with two cupper ions coordinated by three histidines is a bifunctional enzyme that catalyses both the hydroxylation of tyrosine to L-DOPA and the consequent oxidation of the resulting catechol-containing species to an o-quinone. Therefore, tyrosinase may play a role in neuromelanin formation in the brain and could be central to dopamine neurotoxicity by contributing to the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease. In the present study, inhibitory effect of ascorbic acid against tyrosinase has been investigated and it has shown a remarkable inhibitory effect in in vitro assays. Then, the in silico-based experiments established through molecular docking calculations and scoring, docking search algorithm, and data plotting indicated that ascorbic acid is strong inhibitor of tyrosinase by interacting with four amino acid units (histidine 263, serine 282, phenylalanine 264, and valin 283) in the active site of the enzyme. The compound also had two long distant hydrogen bindings with Cu1 and Cu2 with distances of 3.57 and 3.41 A, respectively, through its O5 atom.

In vitro antiproliferative effects on human tumor cell lines of extracts from the Bangladeshi medicinal plant Aegle marmelos Correa.

In the present paper we show that extracts from Aegle marmelos Correa are able to inhibit the in vitro proliferation of human tumor cell lines, including the leukemic K562, T-lymphoid Jurkat, B-lymphoid Raji, erythroleukemic HEL, melanoma Colo38, and breast cancer MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Molecules present within the studied Aegle marmelos C. extracts were identified by gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry analysis; three derivatives (butyl p-tolyl sulfide, 6-methyl-4-chromanone and butylated hydroxyanisole) were found to exhibit strong activity in inhibiting in vitro cell growth of human K562 cells. The antiproliferative activity of these compounds was found to be comparable to that of known antitumor agents, including cisplatin, chromomycin, cytosine arabinoside and 5-fluorouracil. In addition, the antiproliferative activity of butyl-p-tolyl sulfide, 6-methyl-4-chromanone and 5-methoxypsolaren was associated to activation of the differentiation pattern of K562 cells.