Dihydrotanshinone, a Natural Diterpenoid, Preserves Blood-Retinal Barrier Integrity via P2X7 Receptor.

ABSTRACT: Activation of P2X7 signaling, due to high glucose levels, leads to blood retinal barrier (BRB) breakdown, which is a hallmark of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Furthermore, several studies report that high glucose (HG) conditions and the related activation of the P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) lead to the over-expression of pro-inflammatory markers. In order to identify novel P2X7R antagonists, we carried out virtual screening on a focused compound dataset, including indole derivatives and natural compounds such as caffeic acid phenethyl ester derivatives, flavonoids, and diterpenoids. Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) rescoring and structural fingerprint clustering of docking poses from virtual screening highlighted that the diterpenoid dihydrotanshinone (DHTS) clustered with

SUBMITTER: Fresta CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7730037 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature