Abstract
Background: Research on the synthesis of anticonvulsants is still in progress as they produce adverse effects with lesser activity as well as the patients become resistant to drug therapy. 1,2,4-triazole scaffold is a resource for the synthesis of anticonvulsant agents having better pharmacological action. Virtual Screening plays an important role to achieve binding affinity, receptor and library pre-processing, docking, scoring and top scoring hits. Optimization of drug ADME parameters continues to play an important role to achieve proof of concept, and ultimately efficacy, safely in clinical trials to address unmet medical need.
Objective: The aim was to design, synthesise and evaluate anticonvulsant activity of a series of 5-substituted-2-(2-(5-aryl-1H-1,2,4-triazole-3-ylthio)acetyl) hydrazine carbothioamide/ carboxamides along with their in silico properties. Methods: Derivatives of 5-substituted-2-(2-(5-phenyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio)acetyl)hydrazine carboxamides/ carbothioamides were obtained by condensation of Ethyl-2-(5-aryl-1H-1,2,4-triazol- 3-ylthio)acetates with thiosemicarbazide or semicarbazide. The synthesized compounds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) while their anticonvulsant activity was screened against pentylenetetrazole-induced seizure (PTZ) against diazepam as reference standard. Molecular docking (in silico) studies were performed using 4-aminobutyrateaminotransferase in order to predict possible protein-ligand interactions. Results: Among the target compounds, 3f exhibited lower activity with 50% protection. The compounds 3e and 3h showed good to moderate levels of anticonvulsant activity with 83.3% protection at 100 mg/kg. The compounds 3g and 3i showed most significant anticonvulsant activity with 100% protection at a dose of 30 mg/kg. In silico results also revealed that 3g and 3i have shown maximum binding affinity to GABA AT protein among the tested compounds. Conclusion: The synthesized compounds showed potent anticonvulsant activity. Molecular docking results should give an insight into how further modification of lead compound can be carried out for higher inhibitory activity.Keywords: Anticonvulsant, 1, 2, 4-triazole, carbothioamides, pentylenetetrazole, molecular docking, epilepsy.
Graphical Abstract
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