Nano-particle mediated inhibition of Parkinson's disease using computational biology approach

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27580-1

Parkinson's disease (PD) arises as neurodegenerative disorder and characterized by progressive deterioration of motor functions due to forfeiture of dopamine-releasing neurons. During PD, neurons at stake loss their functionality that results into cognition impairment and forgetfulness, commonly called as dementia. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have been reported for easy drug delivery through blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the central nervous system (CNS) against the conventional drug delivery systems. However, present study attempted to elucidate the α-synuclein activity, a major factor casing PD, in presence of its inhibitor cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticle via computational biology approach. A computational analysis was also conducted for the α-synuclein activity with biocompatible metal NPs such as GOLD NPs and SPIONs to scrutinize the efficacy and degree of inhibition induced by the CeO2 NP. The obtained results concluded that CeO2 NP fit best in the active site of α-synuclein with good contacts and interaction, and potentially inhibited the PD against L-DOPA drug selected as positive control in the designed PD biochemical pathway. Hence, CeO2 NP has been purposed as potential inhibitor of α-synuclein and can be employed as nano-drug against the PD.