In silico design, synthesis, characterization and pharmacological evaluation of captopril conjugates in the treatment of renal fibrosis

Abstract

Renal fibrosis is a renal disorder whereby production of excess fibrous connective tissue in the glomerulus and proximal convoluted tubules will occur in a reparative or reactive process leading to severe conditions like surgery, replacement, etc. Such a condition needs pharmacotherapy with drugs reducing renal overload (captopril) and inflammation (taurine). In this research project, two chemical conjugates of captopril with taurine and glutamic acid were developed using in silico analysis for an improvement in bioavailability with a reduction in inflammation. The stability of these conjugates in sheep kidney cells and in human plasma along with transport across renal cells was investigated using in vitro protocols. The results of these studies have revealed that conjugates have retained desired interactions for transportability across renal epithelial cells and their bioactivity against ACE and TGF-β. Both conjugates A and B were found to be stable over a period of 14 h in plasma and transported nearly 2 times more than captopril across renal epithelial cells. These conjugates were almost entirely hydrolyzed in renal lysosomes over a period of 14 h (87.39 ± 2.59%). Thus a combination of these two conjugates would be an effective chemotherapy to prevent progression of renal fibrosis to renal failure after in vivo studies of these conjugates.