# In Silico molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation of transferrin coated Phenytoin loaded SLNs with molecular targets of epilepsy

**Authors:** Ahmad Zeb, Hussain Ali, Jehan Zeb Khan, Fawad Ali Shah, Abdullah Alattar, Fawaz E. Alanazi

PMC · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325772 · PLOS One · 2025-06-20

## TL;DR

This study uses computer simulations to explore how Phenytoin interacts with proteins involved in epilepsy, suggesting it could be a better treatment.

## Contribution

The study identifies new protein targets for Phenytoin in epilepsy using molecular docking and dynamic simulations.

## Key findings

- Phenytoin showed high binding affinities with Bcl-2, BDNF, IL-1β, and Caspase proteins.
- Molecular dynamics simulations confirmed stable interactions of Phenytoin with target proteins.
- Phenytoin interacts with key residues in the active domains of selected receptors.

## Abstract

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, affecting millions of people worldwide. Phenytoin is a widely used antiepileptic drug, but its therapeutic efficacy is limited by poor brain penetration and undesirable side effects. We have investigated the drug against the selected candidate’s protein target using Insilco analysis to check the mode of action in real time system. This makes Phenytoin a promising therapeutic drug for the management of different targets involved in Epilepsy disease. Considering this, using a wide range of computer aided drug-designing approaches, high interactions with the protein targets have been inferred against drug molecule Phenytoin. Eight receptors against Phenytoin molecules showed binding interactions during molecular docking but the top four i.e. Bcl-2, BDNF, IL-1β and Caspase showed high binding affinities with docking score of 7.8 kcal/mol, 7.7. kcal/mol. 7.4 kcal/mol and 7.1 kcal/mol respectively. The compound Phenytoin interacts with several important active side residues in the active domain of all the receptors which was further validated via molecular dynamic simulations for 100 ns time intervals. Furthermore, the complexes of Phenytoin reveal very stable dynamics with average RMSD, RMSF and ROG values with stable carbon-alpha atoms confirmation at different intervals. In conclusion, these molecules are promising and require experimental validation to prove them as epilepsy inhibitors.

## Linked entities

- **Proteins:** BCL2 (BCL2 apoptosis regulator), BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), IL1B (interleukin 1 beta), LOC5567300 (caspase-3)
- **Chemicals:** Phenytoin (PubChem CID 1775)
- **Diseases:** epilepsy (MONDO:0005027)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** TF (transferrin) [NCBI Gene 7018] {aka HEL-S-71p, PRO1557, PRO2086, TFQTL1}, BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) [NCBI Gene 627] {aka ANON2, BULN2}, BCL2 (BCL2 apoptosis regulator) [NCBI Gene 596] {aka Bcl-2, PPP1R50}, IL1A (interleukin 1 alpha) [NCBI Gene 3552] {aka IL-1 alpha, IL-1A, IL1, IL1-ALPHA, IL1F1}
- **Diseases:** Epilepsy (MESH:D004827), seizures (MESH:D012640), neurological disorder (MESH:D009461)
- **Chemicals:** carbon (MESH:D002244), Phenytoin (MESH:D010672)

## Full text

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## Figures

9 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12180723/full.md

## References

55 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12180723/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12180723