Synthesis and bio-evaluation of a novel selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor discovered through structure-based virtual screening

In recent years, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) has gradually gained worldwide interests as a novel target for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, two pharmacophore models were generated using Schrödinger suite and used to virtually screen ChemDiv database, from which three hits were obtained. Among them, 2513–4169 displayed the highest inhibitory activity and selectivity against BChE ( ee AChE IC 50  > 10 μM, eq BChE IC 50  = 3.73 ± 1.90 μM). Molecular dynamic (MD) simulation validated the binding pattern of 2513–4169 in BChE, and it could form a various of receptor-ligand interactions with adjacent residues. In vitro cytotoxicity assay proved the safety of 2513–4169 on diverse neural cell lines. Moreover, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assay performed on SH-SY5Y cells proved the neuroprotective effect of 2513–4169 against toxic Aβ 1 – 42 . In vivo behavioral study further confirmed the great efficacy of 2513–4169 on reversing Aβ 1 – 42 -induced cognitive impairment of mice and clearing the toxic Aβ 1 – 42 in brains. Moreover, 2513–4169 was proved to be able to cross blood-brain barrier (BBB) through a parallel artificial membrane permeation assay of BBB (PAMPA-BBB). Taken together, 2513–4169 is a promising lead compound for future optimization to discover anti-AD treating agents.