In silico docking of Novel Phytoalkaloid Camalexin in the Management of Benomyl Induced Parkinson's disease and its In vivo Evaluation by Zebrafish Model.

BACKGROUND Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibits the extra pyramidal symptoms caused due to the dopaminergic neuronal degeneration in the substantia nigra of the brain and depletion of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme. OBJECTIVE This study was designed to enlighten the importance of Aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme in protecting the dopamine levels in a living system. Camalexin, a potentially active compound has been evaluated for its dopamine enhancing and aldehyde dehydrogenase protecting role in pesticide induced Parkinson's disease. METHODS AutoDock 4.2 software was employed to perform the docking simulations between the ligand camalexin and standard drugs Alda-1, Ropirinole with three proteins 4WJR, 3INL, 5AER. Consequently, the compound was evaluated for its in vivo neuroprotective role in zebrafish model by attaining Institutional Animal Ethical Committee permission. The behavioral assessments and catecholamine analysis in zebrafish were performed. RESULTS The Autodock result shows that the ligand camalexin has a lower binding energy (-3.84) that indicate higher affinity with the proteins when compared to the standard drug of proteins (-3.42). In zebrafish model, behavioral studies provided an evidence that camalexin helps in improvement of motor functions and cognition. The catecholamine assay has proved there is an enhancement in dopamine levels, as well as an improvement in aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme also. CONCLUSION The novel compound, camalexin, hence offers a protective role in Parkinson's disease model by its interaction with neurochemical proteins and also in alternative in vivo model.