Letters in Drug Design & Discovery - Volume 17, Issue 6, 2020

Background: The research about anti-edema effects of mannitol on acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats is rare. Objective: This study aimed to explore the effect of mannitol on spinal cord edema after SCI in rats. Methods: Seventy-eight adult female rats were assigned to three groups randomly: a sham control group (n = 18), a contusion and normal saline contrast group (n=30), and a contusion and mannitol tr Read More

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is increasingly being recognized as one of the lethal diseases in older people. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) has proven to be the most promising target in AD, used for designing drugs against AD. Methods: In silico studies, 2D- or 3D-QSAR like hologram QSAR (HQSAR), Topomer comparative molecular field analysis (Topomer CoMFA), comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA), and co Read More

Background: Although Antiepileptic Drugs (AEDs) acting on various targets have been applied in the clinic, the efficacy and tolerance of AEDs in the treatment of epilepsy have not significantly improved. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop some novel chemical moieties with a better safety profile and greater efficacy. We designed and synthesized twenty-seven 4- phenylpiperidin-2-one derivatives. This study aimed to Read More

Background: Electrophilic compounds bearing Michael acceptors present great promise in anticancer drug discovery. Methods: Drawing inspirations from cytotoxic Piper lactam alkaloids, twelve N-acylated butyro- and valerolactams were prepared and evaluated for antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities against the normal human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), chronic human myeloid leukemia cells (K- 562), and Henriet Read More

Background: Nowadays, in course of the drug design and discovery much attention is paid to the physicochemical parameters of a drug candidate, in addition to their biological activity. Disadvantageous physicochemical parameters can hinder the success of a drug candidate. Objective: Lovering et al. introduced the Fsp3 character as a measure of carbon bond saturation, which is related to the physicochemical paramethers of th Read More

Background: The pyrazole structure is an important heterocyclic structure and plays critical roles in agriculture, industrial and medicine. Furthermore, compounds containing pyrazole are known to exhibit various biological properties such as antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antiinflammatory, antidepressant, antipyretic, antiviral, anti-tubercular and anti-HIV activities. Because of these properties, pyrazole mol Read More

Background: According to the World Health Organization, 50 million people worldwide are suffering from epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally. 2,3 disubstituted quinazolinone-4-one derivatives endowed with various pharmacological activity, particularly having anticonvulsant action. Objectives: The aim of this study was to synthesize 3-Substituted-2,3-Dihydro-2-thioxoquinazoli Read More

Background: Phosphoinositide-3 kinases (PI3Ks) are key signaling molecules that affect a diverse array of biological processes in cells, including proliferation, differentiation, survival, and metabolism. The abnormal activity of PI3K signals is closely related to the occurrence of many diseases, which has become a very promising drug target, especially for the treatment of cancer. PI3Kδ/γ inhibitors can reduce toxicity concerns f Read More

Background: Insulin has been included in a variety of dosage forms; nevertheless, liposomes have shown protection to degradation and better absorption. The addition of surfactant to liposomes could give the ability to deform and pass through intact membranes, and could increase the stability and the release of the drug. Introduction: Due to the limitations of the current treatment of insulin in diabetic patients, investiga Read More

Background: Thienopyrimidine, triazole and thiazolidinone derivatives have recently gained attention due to their effective pharmacological activities. They show antioxidant, antitumor, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Objective: Synthesis of new ethyl 2-amino-4-isopropyl-5-methylthiophene-3-carboxylate (2) was used as a starting material to produce 2-mercapto-methylthienopyrimidin Read More

Background: Reverse Transcriptase (RT) of immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) remains an essential target for new antiretroviral therapies. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (or NNRTIs) constitute a major class of RT inhibitors whose characterization is essential. Introduction: Several biochemical, biological, and biophysical methods have been previously used to analyze the biological effects of NNRTIs. We expl Read More