Docking-based preliminary study on the interactions of bile acids with drugs at the transporter level in intestinal bacteria

M. Djanic, N. Pavlovic, B. Stanimirov, T. Stojancevic, S. Golocorbin-Kon, G. Bojic, M. Mikov

Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. majadjanic@gmail.com

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• Pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the binding-affinities of different bile acids towards drug transporters in Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum in order to predict the influence of bile acids and probiotics interactions on drug pharmacokinetics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to study interactions of bile acids with transporters of intestinal bacteria, molecular-docking step was performed, using SwissDock web-service. For the purpose of comparison, two natural bile acids, cholic acid (CA) and deoxycholic acid (DCA), and one semi-synthetic bile acid, 12-monoketocholic acid (MKC), were studied in parallel. The free-binding energy was used as the main criterion for ranking ligands.

RESULTS: Studied bile acids exhibited different binding affinities towards bacterial transporters with MKC showing the most prominent effect. For the majority of studied transporters, the estimated affinities of bile acids decreased in the following order: MKC–CA–DCA. Namely, 38.7% of examined transport proteins gave the lowest free-binding energy with MKC. The weak inverse relationship between number of hydrogen bonds and estimated free-binding energies was revealed.

CONCLUSIONS: The predominant effect of MKC for the majority of studied transport proteins suggests that keto group at carbon 12 of the steroid core has a significant influence on the properties of MKC and consequently, on interactions with membrane transporters. Present findings might have a role in the prediction of potential influence of bile acids and probiotics on drug pharmacokinetics.

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