In silico Screening of Monamine Oxidase B Inhibitors for the Treatment of Central Nervous System Disorders

Worldwide, millions of people suffer from neurological and psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, depression, and neurodegenerative diseases. These conditions are often linked to hyperactivity of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in the brain, and inhibiting this enzyme can reduce oxidative stress, stabilize neurotransmitter levels, and alleviate symptoms. In this context, a pharmacophoric model was created using PharmaGist with 31 hits extracted from BindingDB to enable a pharmacophoric-based search of potential MAO-B inhibitors in ZincPharmer’s chemical space, followed by the building of 10 conformers for each molecule in the software OMEGA, screening for structural and electrostatic similarity to safinamide using ROCS (Rapid overlay of chemical structures) and EON (Electrostatic similarity for lead-hopping), respectively. In addition, the molecular docking with Gold using the score function was performed to rank the ligands with the highest probabilities of affinity to MAO-B and then discriminate those with suitable physical-chemical, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological features using the tools QikProp, SwissADME, and DEREK. Four potential ligands with selective MAO-B inhibitor properties were identified, which show promise as future therapeutic agents for MAO-B-related disorders.