In vitro and in silico investigation of inhibitory activities of 3-arylcoumarins and 3-phenylazo-4-hydroxycoumarin on MAO isoenzymes

Abstract

A series of 3-aryl coumarin derivatives and 3-phenylazo-4-hydroxycoumarin were evaluated for their monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B inhibitory activity and selectivity by fluorometric enzymological assays. Among 21 coumarin derivatives, compound 21 (3-phenylazo-4-hydroxycoumarin) displayed a good inhibitory activity (0.12 +/- 0.02 mu M) and very high selectivity for MAO-B (SI > 833.33). The inhibition was determined as mixed-type and not time-dependent. Docking studies, molecular dynamics and molecular mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) calculations were performed to elucidate in vitro results. Our results reveal that the insertion of an azo linker between coumarin and phenyl rings in 3-arylcoumarins enhances MAO-B selectivity enormously since such a linker leads to the perfect alignment of the coumarin ring in the aromatic cage and the phenyl ring in the entrance cavity of MAO-B active site. Hydrogen bond interactions with Cys172 in the active site entrance of MAO-B also contributes to the remarkably higher inhibitory activity and selectivity for MAO-B.