In Silico Investigation of Piperine against Human Monoamine Oxidase-A (MAO-A) Enzyme – Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a depigmentation disorder; Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) plays a major role in the development of depigmentation. Monoamine oxidase-A(MAO-A) enzyme is one of the reasons in producing ROS by metabolizing norepinephrine which found to be high level in vitiligo patients. Inhibiting MAO-A enzyme prevents further depigmentation. Clinical studies proved that the isoquinoline alkaloids have inhibiting property against MAO-A enzyme. Piperine is a kind of quinoline alkaloid since it has been proved in treating vitiligo. In this work, computational analysis carried to study the inhibition efficacy of piperine against human MAO-A enzyme based on binding affinity and proteinligand stability. From the results, we observed binding affinity based on the docking scores, protein-ligand stability based on the hydrogen as well as hydrophobic interactions. This computational analysis gives various insights about structural features of disease target, stability of complex formation through hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions.