Contemporary literature documents
extensive research on common
causative mechanisms, pathogenic pathways and dual effective remedies
for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Tolbutamide (TBM), chlorpropamide (CPM), and glyburide (GLY) are three
sulfonylurea antidiabetic drugs of different generations. All these
drugs were found to exhibit moderate to strong inhibitory efficiency
on the neurotransmitter degrading enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE)
with GLY (IC50 = 0.74 ± 0.02 μM) being the most
potent, followed by CPM (IC50 = 5.72 ± 0.24 μM)
and TBM (IC50 = 28.9 ± 1.60 μM). Notably, the
inhibition efficiency of GLY is even comparable with the FDA approved
AD drug, donepezil (DON). The larger size of GLY spans almost the
full gorge of AChE ranging from catalytic active site (CAS) to the
peripheral active site (PAS) with relatively strong binding affinity
(6.0 × 105 M–1) and acts as a competitive
inhibitor for AChE. On the other hand, while they show relatively
weak binding ((2–6) × 104 M–1), both CPM and TBM act as noncompetitive binders. While these two
drugs can bind to PAS, MD simulation results predict an alternative
noncompetitive inhibition mechanism for CPM. These results open the
possibility of repurposing the antidiabetic drugs, particularly GLY,
in the treatment of AD. The consequential side effect of excess acetylcholine
production, due to the administration of these drugs to AD-unaffected
patients, can be rectified by using colloidal gold and silver nanofluids
as potential AChE activity boosters.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.