Identification and in silicon binding study of a novel NR2B selective NMDAR antagonist

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major group of diseases that threaten human health, and the search for drugs and treatments for it has never stopped. Research and development of NMDA receptor antagonists as potential therapeutic targets have also been ongoing. Our group designed and synthesized 22 new tetrahydropyrrolo[2,1–b]quinazolines based on NR2B-NMDARs targets and evaluated them for their neuroprotective activity against NMDA-induced cytotoxicity in vitro, A21 exhibited excellent neuroprotective activity. Subsequently, the structure–activity relationships and inhibitor binding modes of the tetrahydropyrrolo[2,1–b]quinazolines were further analyzed by molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and binding free energy calculations. The results showed that A21 could match the two binding pockets of NR2B-NMDARs. The research results of this project will lay a certain foundation for the research of novel NR2B-NMDA receptor antagonists and also provide new ideas for the subsequent research and development of this target.