Guanidinyl tryptophan derivatives TGN1, TGN2, TGN3, and TGN4 were synthesized, and these compounds were shown to possess in vitro inhibitory activity for amyloid aggregation in a previous study. Nevertheless, the influence of the TGN series of compounds on the binding and permeation behaviors of an Aβ monomer to the cell membranes was not elucidated. In this study, we investigated the effect of compounds in the TGN series on the behavior of an Aβ monomer regarding its toxicity toward the bilayer lipid membrane using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. MD simulations suggest that TGN4 is a potential agent that can interfere with the movement of the Aβ monomer into the membrane. The MM-GBSA result demonstrated that TGN4 exhibits the highest affinity to the Aβ1-42 monomer but has the lowest affinity to the bilayer. Moreover, TGN4 also contributes to a decrease in the binding affinity between the Aβ1-42 monomer and the POPC membrane. Regarding the results of the binding mode and conformational analyses, a high number of amino-acid residues were shown to provide the binding interactions between TGN4 and the Aβ1-42 monomer. TGN4 also reduces the conformational transition of the Aβ1-42 monomer by means of interacting with the monomer. The present study presents molecular-level insights into how the TGN series of compounds affect the membrane adsorption and the conformational transition of the Aβ1-42 monomer, which could be valuable for the further development of new anti-Alzheimer agents.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Aβ monomer; TGN4; guanidinyl tryptophan compounds; lipid bilayer; molecular dynamics simulation.