Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemistry Renmin University of China No.59, Zhong Guan Cun Street Haidian District Beijing 100872 P. R. China
Abstract
Abstractβ‐Carboline alkaloids have a variety of pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, antibiosis and antidiabetes. Harmine and harmol are two structurally similar β‐carbolines that occur in many medicinal plants. In this work, we chose harmine and harmol to impede the amyloid fibril formation of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), by a series of physicochemical and biochemical methods. The results indicate that harmine and harmol effectively prevent peptide fibril formation and alleviate toxic oligomer species. In addition, both small molecules exhibit strong binding affinities with hIAPP mainly through hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions, thus reducing the cytotoxicity induced by hIAPP. Their distinct binding pattern with hIAPP is closely linked to the molecular configuration of the two small molecules, affecting their ability to impede peptide aggregation. The study is of great significance for the application and development of β‐carboline alkaloids against T2DM.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Organic Chemistry,Molecular Biology,Molecular Medicine,Biochemistry