Computational Modeling Study of the Binding of Aging and Non-Aging Inhibitors with Neuropathy Target Esterase

Neuropathy target esterase (NTE) is a serine hydrolase with phospholipase B activity, which is involved in maintaining the homeostasis of phospholipids. It can be inhibited by aging inhibitors such as some organophosphorus (OP) compounds, which leads to delayed neurotoxicity with distal degeneration of axons. However, the detailed binding conformation of aging and non-aging inhibitors with NTE is not known. In this study, new computational models were constructed by using MODELLER 10.3 and AlphaFold2 to further investigate the inhibition mechanism of aging and non-aging compounds using molecular docking. The results show that the non-aging compounds bind the hydrophobic pocket much deeper than aging compounds and form the hydrophobic interaction with Phe1066. Therefore, the unique binding conformation of non-aging compounds may prevent the aging reaction. These important differences of the binding conformations of aging and non-aging inhibitors with NTE may help explain their different inhibition mechanism and the protection of non-aging NTE inhibitors against delayed neuropathy.